The AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) Program supports the quality of healthcare by providing the best available evidence on medications, devices, and healthcare services with the goal of helping healthcare professionals, patients, policymakers, and healthcare systems make informed and evidence-based healthcare decisions. Women’s health research supports the overall AHRQ mission of producing evidence to make healthcare safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used. Identifying gaps in women’s health research can inform future studies and outline areas that need to be addressed to inform clinical practice to improve the Nation's overall health and well-being.
To identify evidence gaps to inform women’s health, the EPC Program examined all reviews conducted by an EPC from December 2017 through February 2022 that addressed a research topic in women’s health. Women’s health is defined as a health topic that exclusively affects women (e.g., reproductive health) or other health conditions of particular relevance to women (e.g., chronic pain).
The 13 identified reports are presented in descending order, by date. The purpose, key messages, and evidence gaps identified in each review are summarized. Evidence gaps are organized by population, intervention, study design, and outcomes to facilitate ease of use. Detailed descriptions of the gaps are also available in the original report as provided in hyperlinks.
The women’s health gaps identified in the report are provided to inform research funders, researchers, and policymakers about the types of questions that need to be addressed and the types of studies necessary to address these questions.
Carr A, Iyer S, Huppert J, Chang C, Umscheid CA. AHRQ EPC Program Research Gaps Summary: Women’s Health. Methods Research Report. AHRQ Publication No. 22-EHC021. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; April 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.23970/AHRQEPCGAPSWOMEN. Posted final reports are located on the Effective Health Care Program search page.
