Pisani is Editor of Gender and Respiratory Disease Special Issue

During Women in Medicine Month, Margaret A. Pisani, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine (pulmonary, critical care & sleep medicine – Yale-PCCSM) guest-edited articles by diverse experts in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine for Clinics in Chest Medicine. The articles appear in the special issue titled, “Gender and Respiratory Disease,” and are intended to update the reader on the important aspects of sex and gender in lung disease and critical illness.

Pisani wrote in the preface, “There is increasing evidence that sex and gender impact the incidence, susceptibility, and severity of lung diseases. Sex has been shown to influence lung development and physiology. The three most common lung diseases in women are asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer. In addition to the biological differences attributed to sex, there are gender differences in rates of diagnosis of lung disease and treatments prescribed.”

Several Yale faculty and trainees contributed to the articles, including Pisani and Clinical Fellow Shannon Kay, MD, who wrote, “An Overview of Sex and Gender in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.” Carolyn M. D’Ambrosio, MD, contributed, “Sex Differences in Obstructive Sleep Apnea,” with colleagues. The article by Lauren Tobias, MD, Christine H.J. Won, MD, and Sri Thapa, MD, was titled, “Impact of Sex on Sleep Disorders Across the Lifespan.” Phillip Joseph, MD, and Yale-PCCSM Fellow Hannah Oakland wrote about “Sex Differences and the Role of Sex Hormones in Pulmonary Hypertension,” while Lynn T. Tanoue, MD, MBA, wrote the chapter, “Women and Lung Cancer.”

Other chapters explored the topics of sex differences in respiratory physiology, the impact of gender on social determinants of health, differences between men and women with COPD, pulmonary considerations for pregnant women, unique aspects of asthma in women, lung diseases unique to women, challenges faced by women with cystic fibrosis, interstitial lung diseases and the impact of gender, gender differences in critical illness and critical care research, and pharmacology considerations in women in lung disease and critical care.

The Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine is one of the eleven sections within YSM’s Department of Internal Medicine. To learn more about Yale-PCCSM, visit PCCSM’s website, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.