A Pap Smear every three years. A mammogram at least every other year. A physical every year.
Guidelines from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend that women have regular – and, usually, annual – health appointments, such as pap smears, mammogram, and physicals. These appointments serve to examine women’s health overall and to check for and, ideally, catch any potentially adverse health developments, such as cancer, cysts, or infections.
However, a recent study found that women aren’t following that recommended schedule – and are putting their own health at risk as a result.
In a study of 2,000 American women conducted by Talker Research on behalf of Doctor’s Best, 33% of women reported feeling behind on key healthcare appointments, especially mammograms (36%), gynecological exams (32%), and annual physicals (27%). Of those women, the most common reason why they felt behind was anxiety about going to the doctor (33%). The second and third most popular reasons were cost (31%) and feeling too busy taking care of children (18%).
Not seeing a doctor regularly is not unusual for men, either. A 2019 Cleveland Clinic survey found that, among its approximately 1,174 American male respondents, 77% were are married or in a domestic partnership would rather go shopping with their wife or significant other than go to the doctor, only 50% said that they consider getting their annual check-up a regular part of taking care of themselves, and 20% said that they haven’t always been completely honest with their doctor.
Another Cleveland Clinic survey duplicated these results in 2022: out of the 1,000 American men surveyed, 72% of men would rather do household chores (like cleaning the bathroom or mowing the line) than go to the doctor, and 55% of men say they don’t get regular health screenings.
The reasons that men and women don’t see doctors regularly, though, do have some differences. For men, those reasons include societal expectations (the 2019 study found 41% of men reported that they were told as children that men don’t complain about health issues), inconvenience (the 2019 study found 61% of men reported that they’d be more likely to go to their annual physical if seeing the doctor were more convenient for them than it was), and even embarrassment (the 2022 study found that 46% of men reported feeling embarrassed, 40% felt uncomfortable, and 39% didn’t want to be judged.)
For women, their reasons for avoiding or postponing doctors’ appointments show not only general anxiety but gender-specific anxiety. For example, 6% of women in the Talker Research study explicitly said that they feel their gender plays a role in how they’re diagnosed, 10% feel judged, and 15% reported that their symptoms were dismissed. In both 2020 and 2022, KFF found similar results: in 2020, 21% of women compared to 12% of men said that a healthcare provider dismissed their concerns and, in 2022, 29% of women compared to 21% of men said the same. KFF’s 2022 survey also revealed that 20% of women who had a negative experience with a healthcare provider thought they were treated that way because of their gender.
In addition to gender bias once they’re at the doctor’s, historic gender roles may keep women from seeing a doctor in the first place. Women historically have assumed the role of caregivers, taking on the majority of unpaid labor in the household, such as cooking, cleaning, and caregiving. Put another way, women complete 65% of unpaid care work for children, parents, in-laws, and even pets – at the cost of their own health. The Talker Research study found, specifically, that 66% of women prioritized family obligations over their own health while 18% of the women who felt like they were behind on their regular doctors’ appointments said they felt too busy taking care of their children., Last fall, TheSkimm State of Women Report reached similar conclusions: that 58% of women often prioritize the health of their families over their own, and 63% of women have trouble prioritizing their own health overall. In short, being female can lead to a default position of caregiving which may leave women unable or unwilling to see doctors themselves – and then, even when they are able to have those medical appointments, they may be dismissed, judged, or misdiagnosed also because they are female.
Regardless of the reason, missing doctors appointments regularly is unhealthy at best and dangerous at worst. The Talker Research study revealed that 28% of women – even when they are experiencing some symptoms that may align with heart disease – decided to sleep it off rather than visit their doctor while 41% of women between the ages of 18-41 don’t have their cholesterol checked every four to six years: one of the best ways to be aware of personal risk for heart disease. And yet, cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death among women, killing one in three.
Plus, the study found that 51% of women reported they tend to be less concerned about health problems they can’t physically see or feel – even when health conditions like hypertension, osteoporosis, and even ovarian cancer might not be physically seen and/or felt initially. (Hypertension affects 44.6% of women over 18 years old, more than 80% of those with osteoporosis are women, and ovarian cancer affects about 1.1% of all women but is the deadliest of all gynecological cancers).
Being dismissed by doctors, meanwhile, can mean misdiagnosing – or completely missing – conditions like autism, autoimmune diseases, and gynecological concerns, among others. Concretely, only 20% of girls with autism are diagnosed before the age of 11 compared to 50% of boys, more than 40% of women diagnosed with a serious autoimmune disease had been dismissed by their doctors, and 24% of women have experienced a medical professional misdiagnose their gynecological condition, including endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, pregnancy, ovarian cysts, and period pain.
Gender bias against women has been present in healthcare systems since the Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks. In fact, the word “hysteria” (which was used to describe a condition thought to be female-only) comes from the Greek word for “uterus” (which was a female-only organ). Thousands of years later, that gender bias still exists: while both men and women will avoid seeing doctors, women often cite anxiety around being blamed, discriminated against, dismissed, or misdiagnosed. They also might not have the time due to their caregiving responsibilities. These findings only reinforce the trend of gender bias in healthcare: one that not only keeps women from being taken seriously and diagnosed correctly but also causes them to avoid the doctors’ office in the first place, whether for a Pap Smear, a mammogram, or even an annual physical.