Departments of Surgery, Physiology, and Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2014 Mar;306(6):H781-8. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00994.2013. Epub 2014 Jan 10.
Sex refers to biological differences between men and women. Although sex is a fundamental aspect of human physiology that splits the population in two approximately equal halves, this essential biological variable is rarely considered in the design of basic physiological studies, in translating findings from basic science to clinical research, or in developing personalized medical strategies. Contrary to sex, gender refers to social and cultural factors related to being a man or a woman in a particular historical and cultural context. Unfortunately, gender is often used incorrectly by scientists and clinical investigators as synonymous with sex. This article clarifies the definition of sex and gender and reviews evidence showing how sex and gender interact with each other to influence etiology, presentation of disease, and treatment outcomes. In addition, strategies to improve the inclusion of female and male human beings in preclinical and clinical studies will be presented, and the importance of embedding concepts of sex and gender into postgraduate and medical curricula will be discussed. Also, provided is a list of resources for educators. In the history of medical concepts, physiologists have provided pivotal contributions to understanding health and disease processes. In the future, physiologists should provide the evidence for advancing personalized medicine and for reducing sex and gender disparities in health care.
性别是指男性和女性之间的生物差异。尽管性别是人类生理学的一个基本方面，将人群大致分为两个相等的部分，但在基础生理学研究的设计、将基础科学发现转化为临床研究，或制定个性化医疗策略时，很少考虑这个基本的生物学变量。与性别不同，性别是指与在特定历史和文化背景下作为男性或女性相关的社会和文化因素。不幸的是，性别经常被科学家和临床研究人员错误地用作与性别的同义词。本文澄清了性和性别定义，并回顾了证据，表明性别和性别如何相互作用，影响病因、疾病表现和治疗结果。此外，还将提出改善基础和临床研究中纳入女性和男性人类的策略，并讨论将性别概念纳入研究生和医学课程的重要性。此外，还提供了教育工作者的资源列表。在医学概念的历史中，生理学家对理解健康和疾病过程做出了至关重要的贡献。在未来，生理学家应该为推进个性化医疗和减少医疗保健中的性别和性别差异提供证据。
