Remembering Our Nation’s Female Veterans

By: Lindsey Horan, Chief Advocacy Officer, Society for Women’s Health Research

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Women’s Health Services Research Conference Accelerating Impacts Through Partnered Research in Arlington, VA. It was an exciting opportunity to hear directly from researchers who are driving advancements in women Veterans’ health and health care.

It is vital that this population be prioritized in research. Not only are women the fastest growing group of veterans using VA health services (they are expected to make up 18% of the veteran population by 2040, up from 4% in 2000), but they are also at risk for certain health issues as a result of their time in the service – ranging from challenges with mental health to musculoskeletal issues and chronic pain.

These health challenges were brought to light through the conference’s presentations. Some of the statistics that stood out to me over the two days included the following:

• 30% of women veterans have clinically significant depressive symptoms
• Recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD) is more common in female veterans than male veterans and was diagnosed in more than 15% of women veteran VHA patients ages 18-44 in fiscal year 2022
• Women are more likely to have chronic pain and report more painful comorbidities of compared to their male counterparts

These are just a few of the points that were shared – and they are compounded by the lack of women’s health research prioritization and the lack of attention paid to sex and gender differences in health. During a methods workshop on sex as a biological variable, panelists noted that only 18% of the first 45 published COVID-19 studies in scientific journals reported sex-disaggregated results, and out of 190 journals, just 34% stated a policy for reporting sex and/or gender.

Generalizing research results does a disservice to everyone; we cannot provide tailored, personalized recommendations or maximize upon scientific discoveries when sex and gender are not considered. During his presentation, Dr. Shereef Elnahal, VHA Undersecretary for Health, said it best: “If we’re leaving women veterans behind, we’re leaving all veterans behind.”

At the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR), we recognize the importance of this population and are currently exploring how best to support research needs related to women veterans. SWHR President and CEO Kathryn Schubert in May participated in a House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Women Veteran Task Force roundtable on diagnostics and treatment for women veterans, and in June, SWHR’s Policy Advisory Council heard from a panel of representatives from the VA, U.S. Army Medical Research & Development Command, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) about research and innovation currently taking place to support women service members and women veterans. We look forward to building on this work in the future.

To discuss collaboration opportunities or to share your thoughts on needs related to this population, please contact me, Lindsey Horan, directly at policy[at]swhr.org.