Additionally, few advocacy groups and less than 1% of literature addresses the impact of brain injuries on women as they age. With Baby Boomers soon comprising 20% of the population, women outliving men, and using more health care expenditures than any previous generation, the cost of women’s brain health will be unparalleled and unpredictable. Despite billions of dollars spent globally on Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related brain degeneration, the impact of previous trauma and specifically on women, isn’t growing as it should be.
As the U.S. begins to have a greater focus on brain health and the impact of brain injury, it is time that sex differences and women as a whole are included. The body of knowledge has to grow exponentially on this vulnerable, but significant portion of the population, and everything from incidence to short- and long-term effects to comprehensive treatment to data collection must be included in these improvements. The U.S. can no longer turn a blind eye to the disparities that exist in women’s greatest health asset: their brains.