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Reflecting the Changing Face of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Sex and Gender in Public Education Materials on COPD

¹ British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women's Health, and ² University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Ann Pederson, M.Sc., Manager, Policy and Research, British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women's Health, E311–4500 Oak Street, Box 48 Vancouver, BC, V6H 3N1 Canada. E-mail: apederson{at}cw.bc.ca

ABSTRACT

Emerging evidence suggests that sex and gender differences exist in the prevalence, susceptibility to, severity of, and response to treatment and management of, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the identification of knowledge gaps regarding sex, gender, and COPD involves not only pinpointing what areas of etiology, epidemiology, and management need to be examined from a sex and gender perspective (as discussed in other articles of this issue), but also must include discussion of how such new and emerging findings are translated to health care professionals, policy makers, and the general population. How emerging knowledge is reflected in educational, awareness-raising, and policy materials made available to the public through community-based organizations, lung health advocacy organizations, the government, and clinicians is not known. A preliminary examination of such documents from around the world suggests that many materials continue to present COPD as a disease that primarily afflicts men. This gap in the translation of research knowledge may be specifically problematic for women—for example, because they may not be adequately informed of the symptoms of COPD, be appropriately screened for the disease, or receive appropriate interventions and treatment.