The MESSAGE Initiative: integrating sex and gender in UK research

Sex and gender influence the medical conditions people develop, the symptoms they report, the care they receive, and their overall outcomes. British Heart Foundation is contributing to the MESSAGE (Medical Science Sex and Gender Equity) initiative to help develop guidance for researchers about how to consider sex and gender in research.

Sex and gender play fundamental roles in individual and population health. For example, we know that men who develop cardiovascular disease generally do so at a younger age than women, and that women may be more likely to have a heart attack misdiagnosed than men. Studying and understanding sex and gender differences and similarities is therefore essential for ensuring that medicines, treatments, and care are safe and effective for everyone who needs them, when they need them. 

High-quality, reproducible and inclusive research requires consideration of sex and gender at every stage, from study design, to recruitment of participants, to data analysis and how the results are shared. Unlike many other countries – notably Canada, the United States and European nations under Horizon Europe – the UK currently has no standard, unified guidance for how sex and gender should be considered in research studies. 

For this reason, British Heart Foundation (BHF) is working with the MESSAGE (Medical Science Sex and Gender Equity) initiative to help shape a sex and gender policy which will be available from 2024. This also aligns with the goals of BHF’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, which includes an ambition to see that, by 2025, our research community is actively considering strategies to improve the representativeness of their research where appropriate. While we have already made some important strides towards this ambition through amending our funding application forms to encourage inclusive research design, BHF strongly supports the need for wider culture change in this area, and the need for partnership working and initiatives such as MESSAGE to achieve this. This culture change could help ensure the UK cements its position as a world leader in rigorous, sustainable science and provides the most effective evidence to improve outcomes for people affected by health conditions, as part of a more equitable society.

Read more about the MESSAGE Initiative

Get in touch

If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for how BHF should address EDI in research, get in touch at [email protected].