The Diseases That Disproportionately Affect Women

The Female Body
May 30
3 min read

Women’s health is not a niche category — it is a global health imperative. Yet the medical world still largely operates with a male-default lens. From underrepresentation in clinical trials to persistent gender data gaps, women’s bodies are often treated as outliers rather than the norm. The result? A healthcare system that fails to fully understand or address how disease affects half the population.

A growing body of research is now shedding light on how biological sex, hormones, and gendered experiences influence disease risk, symptoms, and outcomes. Here, we explore seven conditions that disproportionately affect women — and what we’re finally beginning to understand about why.

1. Alzheimer’s Disease

Nearly two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s are women. While women tend to live longer, longevity alone doesn’t explain the gender gap.

New research focuses on the APOE4 gene, which increases Alzheimer's risk. Women with one copy of this gene have up to four times the risk of developing Alzheimer’s compared to those without it. With two copies, the risk jumps nearly tenfold — a much steeper increase than in men.

What this suggests is that the biological processes driving neurodegeneration may be fundamentally different in women — and urgently demand sex-specific research and care strategies.

2. Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Women are four times more likely than men to develop MS, a chronic autoimmune disease affecting the brain and spinal cord. That gender gap becomes pronounced after puberty, indicating that hormones, especially estrogen, play a role in disease development.

Women also have higher rates of obesity, a condition linked to increased inflammation — another potential trigger for MS. The interplay of hormones, body fat distribution, and immune response remains under investigation, but the evidence is clear: MS is a women's health issue, and needs to be researched as such.

3. Gallstones

Gallstones affect up to 20% of American women by age 60 — and women are three times more likely than men to develop them.

Hormones again play a starring role. Estrogen increases cholesterol in bile, while progesterone slows gallbladder emptying — a perfect storm for stone formation. Pregnancy, obesity, and hormone therapy further increase risk.

Gallstones might seem minor compared to diseases like cancer, but they can lead to serious complications and painful surgeries. Understanding how hormones affect digestive organs is long overdue.

4. Lupus

Lupus is one of the most striking examples of a gender-biased disease: 90% of people diagnosed are women.

Why? One theory focuses on the X chromosome. Women have two, and while one is typically inactivated in every cell, some genes escape this process. These rogue genes may activate immune responses linked to lupus.

Hormones may also be to blame, though more research is needed. What’s certain is that autoimmune diseases, including lupus, overwhelmingly affect women — but we still know far too little about why.

5. Migraines

Three out of four migraine sufferers are women. Women also report more frequent, longer, and more intense migraines.

The trigger? Often, it’s fluctuating estrogen levels. Migraines commonly emerge at puberty and worsen around menstruation, postpartum, and perimenopause. In fact, 70% of women with migraines say their attacks correlate with their menstrual cycles.

Despite the high prevalence, many women struggle for years to get an accurate diagnosis or effective treatment. Dismissing migraines as "just headaches" is not only outdated — it’s dangerous.

6. Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety affects 40 million U.S. adults every year — but women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed.

Brain chemistry offers some clues. The fight-or-flight system stays activated longer in women, possibly due to the effects of estrogen and progesterone. Women also process serotonin, the brain’s feel-good chemical, differently than men. And they may be more sensitive to corticotropin-releasing factor, a hormone that influences stress response.

Beyond biology, social factors matter too. Women are more likely to juggle caregiving, emotional labor, and financial stress — all major anxiety triggers.

7. Osteoporosis

Of the 10 million Americans with osteoporosis, 80% are women. Why?

Women have smaller, thinner bones than men, making them more vulnerable to loss of bone density. But the biggest driver is estrogen. After menopause, estrogen levels plummet, accelerating bone loss and increasing fracture risk.

Yet osteoporosis remains underdiagnosed and undertreated — often seen as an inevitable part of aging rather than a preventable and manageable condition.

Why This Matters

These seven conditions are not anomalies — they’re part of a pattern. Across every body system, from brain to bones, women experience disease differently. But for too long, medical research and healthcare design have ignored this reality.

If we want a world where health outcomes are fair and effective for everyone, we must build a system rooted in sex- and gender-specific research, education, and care. That means: