Insights and Advances in Surgical Best Practices for Gender Health Equity and Appropriateness

The field of gender health equity in surgical practices is a rapidly evolving area of research. Despite the growing recognition of gender's influence on health and disease, it remains underappreciated in medical and surgical interventions, leading to disparities in healthcare delivery and impacting the safety and efficacy of treatments for both male and female patients. The World Health Organization's emphasis on gender medicine as a response to these inequalities has sparked increased attention to sex-based differences in biology, genetics, and biomedical sciences. This shift has led to new insights into diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic issues, highlighting the importance of gender medicine in the development of personalized, patient-centered care. However, there is still a significant gap in understanding the impact of patient gender on the complexity of care and disease load, an issue with both ethical and economic implications.

The primary goal of this Research Topic is to explore the current state of gender-based approaches in surgically relevant pathologies. This includes a focus on specific preventive and diagnostic protocols, treatments, techniques, and outcomes. Additionally, the research aims to delve into the gender-related stratification in epidemiological analysis of surgical interest. The objective is to contribute to the development of a fully inclusive personalized medicine, taking into account the specific healthcare needs and experiences of individual patients.

The scope of this Research Topic is broad, encompassing a range of themes related to gender health equity in surgical practices. We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Surgical Considerations for male and female gender populations: investigating potential disparities in access to surgical care, patient experiences, and outcomes;
• Innovative surgical techniques and technologies: evaluating emerging approaches that may enhance surgical effectiveness and promote better surgical outcomes for diverse gender populations;
• Multidisciplinary approaches to gender health equity: exploring collaborative efforts among surgical specialties and other healthcare professionals in promoting gender health equity;
• Education and training for surgeons: analyzing the impact of education and training programs on improving surgical competency and patient-centered care.