title: A chronology of the study of older women's health: data, discoveries, and future directions.
abstract: Women have been traditionally ignored in health and medical research. Some reasons for this mentality include a fear of harming a woman's reproductive ability, fear that variations in the menstrual cycle could confound results, fear that a woman's body could not withstand the rigors of clinical research, and an assumption that male and female body chemistry is similar. Thankfully, these fears and assumptions are being challenged and several major data-bases, designed specifically to study women's health, have emerged. The purpose of this paper is to: (1) characterize the major longitudinal studies on women's health, (2) summarize the major discoveries from these studies that are relevant to older women, and (3) pose several future directions for research throughout the paper.
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise and Sport Science, 250 South 1850 E., Room 202, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0920, USA. Lynda.Ransdell@health.utah.edu
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Ransdell
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D018579:Patient Selection; D016387:Women's Health