Karin and 600 other women are ready to help the faltering research in women's diseases

Women and 600 others are ready to help underfunded research on women's diseases

With a new initiative, Odense University Hospital and the Danish Women's Society aim to improve the underfunded research on women's bodies and diseases.

40-year-old Karin Knakkergaard from Odense has signed up for the Women's Panel, as she wants to support research on women's bodies and diseases. (Private photo) (Photo: © PRIVATE PHOTO)

By

Morten Mørch ([email protected]) 45 min. ago

Doctors and researchers pay too little attention to women's bodies and diseases compared to men's, but Odense University Hospital and the Danish Women's Society aim to change that with a new initiative called the Women's Panel.

So far, they have collected over 600 volunteer women who want to contribute to research in this area.

- It can make a world of difference, and we are really looking forward to putting the panel into use, says Lone Kjeld Petersen, research leader, professor and gynecologist at the Gynecological Obstetric Department at Odense University Hospital.

The women on the panel can get involved in various ways.

They can come up with ideas for research, they can participate in questionnaire surveys on specific diseases, they can donate blood samples for medical trials, and they can help with the dissemination of research results.

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Fantastic opportunity

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One of the women who has signed up for the panel is 40-year-old Karin Knakkergaard from Odense.

- I think it's a fantastic opportunity to be able to participate in research and make myself available, and I think we are underrepresented, she says.

Herself has noticed the lack of focus in connection with her two pregnancies and births.

>

> There are so many areas where we need more knowledge, so we can increase women's quality of life and help them live well and long.

> Lone Kjeld Petersen, professor, Gynecological Obstetric Department, Odense

> University Hospital

- So you find out: 'You have had a healthy and vigorous baby, so go home and enjoy it', where you stand with a body that is a little battered and might well benefit from some help and support and rehabilitation, she explains.

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Focus is lacking

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Professor Lone Kjeld Petersen is very much in agreement that there is enough to address in order to rectify the imbalance in research.

- Half of the population is women, but there has been a lack of focus on the fact that there are specific diseases that only affect them, she says.

As examples, she mentions endometriosis, a painful disease that particularly affects younger women. Or incontinence, where older women in particular have problems holding water - and postpartum depression, which affects half of those who have given birth.

Learn more: Vicki suffers along with 130,000 others from hidden women's disease: 'It's always and everywhere that I have pain' (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/vicki-lider-sammen-med-130000-andre-af-skjult-kvindesygdom-det-er-hele-tiden-og)

- And I can go on and on. There are so many areas where we need more knowledge, so we can increase women's quality of life and help them live well and long, says Lone Kjeld Petersen.

Both Odense University Hospital and the Danish Women's Society hope that even more women will sign up for the Women's Panel.

This can be done on the Danish Women's Society's website (https://www.danskkvindesamfund.dk/samarbejder).

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