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Women's health research funding in Canada across 15 years suggests low funding levels with a narrow focus.

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Title: Women's health research funding in Canada across 15 years suggests low funding levels with a narrow focus.
Authors: Gravelsins LL; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada., Splinter TFL; Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, 500 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5G 1V7, Canada., Mohammad A; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada.; Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, 6 Queen's Park Crescent, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H2, Canada., Blankers SA; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada., Desilets GL; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada., Galea LAM; Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada. liisa.galea@utoronto.ca.; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada. liisa.galea@utoronto.ca.; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G3, Canada. liisa.galea@utoronto.ca.
Source: Biology of sex differences [Biol Sex Differ] 2025 Oct 16; Vol. 16 (1), pp. 78. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Oct 16.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Language: English
Journal Info: Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101548963 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2042-6410 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20426410 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Biol Sex Differ Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Original Publication: London : BioMed Central, 2010-
MeSH Terms: Women's Health*/economics , Biomedical Research*/economics , Research Support as Topic*/statistics & numerical data, Canada ; Humans ; Female
Abstract: Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Background: Females have been underrepresented in preclinical and clinical research. Research on females is important for conditions that directly affect women, disproportionately impact women, and manifest differently in women. Sex and gender mandates were introduced, in part, to increase women's health research. This study aimed to understand how much of women's health research is being funded in open grant competitions in Canada that fall under the top burden and/or death of disease for women globally.
Methods: Publicly available funded Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) project grant abstracts from 2009 to 2023 were coded for the mention of female-specific research to assess what percentage of grant abstracts focused on the top 11 areas of global disease burden and/or death that disproportionately affect females. We also examined changes from 2020 to 2023 in the representation of grant abstracts that mentioned sex, gender, or two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex (2S/LGBTQI).
Results: The percentage of abstracts mentioning sex or gender doubled whereas the percentage of abstracts mentioning 2S/LGBTQI quadrupled from 2020 to 2023, but remained at under 10% of overall funded abstracts. In contrast, female-specific research representation remained at ~ 7% of all research. Under 5% of the total funded grant abstracts mentioned studying one of the top 11 global burdens of disease and/or death for women over 15 years. Of the 681 female-specific grants, cancer research accounted for 35% of funding (or 2.25% of overall grants), whereas the other top 10 collectively accounted for 37% of female-specific funding (or 2.35% overall) across 15 years. The percentage of overall funding towards understanding female-specific contributions to cardiovascular disease was 0.70% followed by diabetes (0.34%), HIV/AIDS (0.54%), depression (0.32%), anxiety (0.17%), musculoskeletal disorders (0.13%), dementia (0.09%), respiratory disorders (0.06%), headache disorders (0.002%) and low back pain (0.01%).
Conclusions: Research acknowledging the sex and gender population in CIHR abstracts is increasing but remains at under 10% while the percentage of funding for women's health remains unchanged at 7% of funded grants across 15 years.
(© 2025. The Author(s).)
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Contributed Indexing: Keywords: CIHR; Female; Gender; LGBTQ; SABV; SGBA; Sex
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20251017 Date Completed: 20251017 Latest Revision: 20251019
Update Code: 20251019
PubMed Central ID: PMC12533434
DOI: 10.1186/s13293-025-00763-y
PMID: 41102872
Database: MEDLINE
Description
Abstract:Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.<br />Background: Females have been underrepresented in preclinical and clinical research. Research on females is important for conditions that directly affect women, disproportionately impact women, and manifest differently in women. Sex and gender mandates were introduced, in part, to increase women's health research. This study aimed to understand how much of women's health research is being funded in open grant competitions in Canada that fall under the top burden and/or death of disease for women globally.<br />Methods: Publicly available funded Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) project grant abstracts from 2009 to 2023 were coded for the mention of female-specific research to assess what percentage of grant abstracts focused on the top 11 areas of global disease burden and/or death that disproportionately affect females. We also examined changes from 2020 to 2023 in the representation of grant abstracts that mentioned sex, gender, or two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex (2S/LGBTQI).<br />Results: The percentage of abstracts mentioning sex or gender doubled whereas the percentage of abstracts mentioning 2S/LGBTQI quadrupled from 2020 to 2023, but remained at under 10% of overall funded abstracts. In contrast, female-specific research representation remained at ~ 7% of all research. Under 5% of the total funded grant abstracts mentioned studying one of the top 11 global burdens of disease and/or death for women over 15 years. Of the 681 female-specific grants, cancer research accounted for 35% of funding (or 2.25% of overall grants), whereas the other top 10 collectively accounted for 37% of female-specific funding (or 2.35% overall) across 15 years. The percentage of overall funding towards understanding female-specific contributions to cardiovascular disease was 0.70% followed by diabetes (0.34%), HIV/AIDS (0.54%), depression (0.32%), anxiety (0.17%), musculoskeletal disorders (0.13%), dementia (0.09%), respiratory disorders (0.06%), headache disorders (0.002%) and low back pain (0.01%).<br />Conclusions: Research acknowledging the sex and gender population in CIHR abstracts is increasing but remains at under 10% while the percentage of funding for women's health remains unchanged at 7% of funded grants across 15 years.<br /> (© 2025. The Author(s).)
ISSN:2042-6410
DOI:10.1186/s13293-025-00763-y