Grant: Project Grant - PA: Sex and Gender in Health Research (Bridge funding)

Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) are a group of devastating, debilitating diseases characterized by worsening scarring and stiffness of the lung tissue. These lead to cough, shortness of breath, low oxygen levels in the blood and shortened life expectancy. There are medications that have been shown to slow disease progression, but delays in diagnosis and access to care can impact a person's disease and prognosis. A patient's sex and gender are important considerations in the care of patients with ILD and can affect the type of diagnosis and the disease course. Earlier research has shown that women may be less likely to be diagnosed with the disease and less likely to receive early treatment compared to men. Other disparities likely exist but have not been fully looked at in a thorough, systematic way across the journey of care for patients with ILD. This project seeks to understands how sex of a patient (male or female) impacts access to key treatment interventions in the care of patients with ILD, including medication initiation and discontinuation, pulmonary exercise rehabilitation, access to supplemental home oxygen, and lung transplantation. We will also explore how gender and gender-related roles, behaviours and social differences impact these key outcomes. We will use two large study cohorts of patients with ILD from Canada and the United Kingdom with rich clinical information and data on medications, oxygen, rehabilitation and lung transplantation to answer this important question pertaining to equity of care.