Tech developers and researchers should work together to tackle gender data gap, says expert

Tech developers and researchers should be part of a collective effort to tackle the gender data gap in women’s health, a leading epidemiologist has said.

Dr Gemma Sharp, associate professor in epidemiology at the University of Exeter and founder of the 4M consortium, told Femtech World that more consultation between tech developers and researchers would mean health apps could be used to collect research-grade data.

She said that this in turn would help identify new metrics that apps could track and better ways of collecting data.

“There’s such a lack of research funding around women’s health,” Sharp said.

“There seems to be a bit of a movement within women’s health, and people are talking more about the need research, but it’s not trickled down to more funding being allocated to women’s health yet. As researchers, we want to do it, but we struggle to get the money to do it.

“Working together with already established companies would be a fruitful and valuable thing to do as we go forward.”

Sharp, who has established the Menarche, Menstruation, Menopause and Mental Health (4M) consortium to facilitate collaborative interdisciplinary research into how menstruation and menopause interact with mental health, has already partnered with the period tracking app Clue to better understand the menstrual cycle.

As part of the collaboration, Sharp and collaborators from the University of Bristol will use Clue data to study the relationship between heavy menstrual bleeding, dysmenorrhea and depression.

“We are trying to understand whether people who have had a diagnosis of depression are more at risk of experiencing heavy menstrual bleeding and menstrual pain,” she explained.

“We are also looking at this issue the other way around, trying to understand whether heavy menstrual bleeding and menstrual pain increase somebody’s risk of developing depression or low mood.”

Other 4M researchers, Arianna Di Florio from Cardiff University and Jessica Agnew-Blais from Queen Mary University of London, will study how Clue data could improve diagnosis of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and how the menstrual cycle affects ADHD symptoms respectively.

While the team is excited about conducting the research, Dr Sharp said the project suffers from some of the same issues that affect women’s health research more broadly.

“There is no specific funding for the research, and so, the success of the research hinges on the researchers’ willingness to fit this work into their busy roles,” she said.

“Where this isn’t possible – which will most likely be the case, as universities can’t give academics time for unfunded research and most academics are already working well over capacity – the research will be squeezed into evenings and weekends.

“Our great hope is that this initial work helps establish a partnership, and that, in future, Clue and other femtech companies can collaborate with us on grant applications and funded research that places value on the contributions from both partners.

“We want to work together to create a big wave around this sort of research that will ultimately lead to better health outcomes for women.”