title: Women's health as a paradigm for understanding factors that mediate disease.
abstract: Women's health research provides an opportunity to focus on the mechanisms underlying health and disease in both men and women. We propose that differences in risk between men and women and among individual women are primarily determined by biologic factors, such as sex steroid hormone metabolism, anatomy, immunologic function, genetic influences, and the effects of reproduction, interacting with external influences, such as psychologic development, sociocultural environment, and economic status. We provide examples whereby a comparison of disease frequencies between men and women and among women allows a focus on underlying mechanisms of disease. We then demonstrate the importance of posing questions about the genesis of differences in disease frequency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Ness
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Kuller
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D004194:Disease / Q000209:etiology*; D004813:Epidemiology; D004967:Estrogens / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000209:etiology; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D012107:Research Design; D012306:Risk; D012737:Sex Factors; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016387:Women's Health
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones