1997 WINNER

An Unhealthy Obsession?

By Paula Gould

Are men brainier than women? Do women talk more than men? Classic 'battle of the sexes' questions can always be relied upon to provoke a lively debate. As the argument rages, scientific evidence is wheeled out to settle matters once and for all. It makes great television entertainment, a sure fire ratings winner. But is such media trivialisation of sex-specific research damaging the health of the nation?

On Thursday 9th January this year, Dr Anita Holdcroft hit the headlines as the scientist who had proved what the man in the pub already knew. Yes lads, pregnant women really are a few cans short of a six-pack. An obstetric anaesthetist at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London, Holdcroft had presented the findings of a clinical study to a meeting in Sheffield, organised by the Physiological Society. Details of her work were picked up and published by 'New Scientist' magazine. Given the human-interest factor of her research, the article was expected to generate media attention. Nobody quite anticipated the way in which the story would be reported.

'Health Warning: Having a Baby Can Shrink Your Brain', screamed the headline in the Mirror. 'Just As We Thought, Pregnant Women Do Lose Their Minds', the Daily Mail confided smugly. Broadly speaking, all news coverage concentrated on two key assertions.

'Fact' one: scientific evidence shows that women's brains shrink during pregnancy. Not quite. Holdcroft's paper described how the brains of ten healthy women got larger over the six-month period after birth. This only suggested that shrunken brains were returning to a normal, nonpregnant size. Certainly, previous research had shown the brains of pregnant women suffering from pre-eclampsia to be shrunken. However no solid evidence was (or is) available to extend these findings to every pregnant woman. Sorry chaps, five out of ten for accuracy.

'Fact' two: decrease in brain size is directly responsible for memory loss. Hmmm... again a slightly dubious claim by the newshounds. The observed alterations in brain size actually resulted from existing brain cells changing in volume. This effect could easily be explained by hydration or nutrition, a theory which Holderoft and her team want to put to the test. No brain cells were actually lost. Women were not literally losing their marbles.

So despite what you might have heard, scientists have not proven a link between pregnancy and absent-mindedness. Nor are they interested in doing so. According to Holdcroft, this interpretation of her work is due to a peculiarly British obsession with the female psyche. 'The attitude of the UK media was quite different to that of Europe, Australasia and America,' she admitted. 'Support for women and their needs in childbirth was obvious across these continents and they were seeking to understand the science behind the findings. Here it was to make the most of - 'shrinkage' to the detriment of women.

Does it really matter if journalists find an amusing way to report a scientific issue? It certainly makes a change to find a witty science feature on the Six O'Clock News. Surely it is nothing more than a light-hearted bit of fun. True enough, yet whilst we joke about mothers-to-be losing their minds, the relevance of new findings are forgotten or ignored. Holdcroft's highly-publicised study developed from her concerns about pregnant women with pre-eclampsia. The cause of this condition is unknown. Blood pressure rises, fluid accumulates in tissue spaces and protein is lost from the urine. In effect, the body becomes swollen. Pre-eclampsia can be dangerous to both mother and baby, hence the actions of doctors who forced 'Miss S' to have a caesarian section. Her refusal of treatment for pre-eclampsia had put the lives of herself and her unborn child at risk.

Anaesthetizing pre-eclampsia sufferers during childbirth can be hazardous. At the moment, pain relief for women in labour is mostly based on data collected from male rats. Female rats are seldom used in laboratory trials, yet men and women do respond in different ways to certain analgesics. The importance of real information from clinical studies cannot be underestimated. If Holderoft and her team can work out why the brain changes in size during and after pregnancy, then childbirth will become even safer.

Pregnancy and childbirth are relevant issues to women who want to know more about the changes their bodies are undergoing. Obstetric anaesthetists want to know more about the patients they are treating. Sex-specific research is critical to improving the health of the nation. This is surely no laughing matter ... or am I labouring under a delusion?