It is now widely known that a heart attack manifests itself differently in women than in men – and yet it still has serious consequences. But other symptoms of illnesses are not the only thing that differentiates men and women when it comes to health, emphasized gender medicine expert Anna Maria Dieplinger: “For a long time, drug studies were only carried out on men, and the side effects in the package insert were only described from the perspective of the male test subjects.” The prototype is always the 75 kilo man.
Although women are taking advantage of more preventive examinations, “when things get critical, they forget regarding themselves,” says Dieplinger. One indicator of this is the shorter length of stay in hospitals: “Because the children or the partner they need to care for are waiting at home, women stay less long and pay less attention to their recovery.” Dieplinger also sees the female patients as having a responsibility: “Women must clearly explain to the doctor what is wrong with them and ask for the information they need. And above all, don’t downplay anything. Health starts with everyone, but doctors too “They should learn that they have to talk to women differently than to men.”
Isabella Kling is also concerned regarding women taking their health and well-being more confidently into their own hands. She founded the gym “Mrs. Sporty”, where only women train. A conscious step, as the successful entrepreneur reports: “Strength training and the equipment were very much designed for men. Women might book a course in a fitness studio or use the stepper.” But strength training is an important health factor – also for women. That’s why Mrs. Sporty also offers supervised strength training in short units to make it possible to balance work, household and care responsibilities, which are largely still women’s responsibility.
“Even in highly developed and modern health systems like the Austrian one, women’s illnesses are often diagnosed late or even misdiagnosed and pain and other complaints are not taken seriously. One reason for this is that medical research and therefore knowledge regarding diseases are strongly oriented towards the male body,” stated Michael Lindner, chairman of the SP Upper Austria.
SPÖ federal women’s leader Eva-Maria Holzleitner said: “Gender medicine must no longer remain a marginal topic in medical research so that no woman has to die just because she is not a man. The symptoms of a heart attack in women are often different than in men, which is why the signs were often not correctly interpreted until recently. According to a Swiss study, women are admitted to the clinic on average 45 minutes later than men. This is a dramatic analysis, but it is our reality.”
SP event series “Morning with Michael”
The reason for the discussion was a premiere. The SPÖ Upper Austria is launching – not on the occasion of the election year, as it is emphasized – a discussion format on current political topics under the motto “Morning with Michael”. 180 visitors attended the Linz Central last Saturday. The SP women helped organize the morning, and state women’s chairwoman Renate Heitz was pleased with the turnout: “Together, we came to the conclusion during the event: In order to provide the best possible health care, medicine must be geared to the specific needs of women. Both in medical studies as well as in research, gender medicine must become a focus topic.”
