Research on gender, reproduction and the lungs, within and across generations. Can we extrapolate this knowledge to the study of cardiovascular disease?
Professor Francisco Gómez Real will first present evidence on gender differences in lung health, focusing on asthma and lung function, followed by the relationship between respiratory health and sex hormone-related events, and finally gender-specific associations between parental risk factors and offspring obesity and respiratory health.
In recent decades, growing knowledge has emerged about the remarkable role of gender and reproductive factors in chronic health and disease, with a focus not only on cardiovascular disease but also on respiratory conditions.
Women’s reproductive functions involve a close interplay between sex hormones and metabolic and immunological factors to support pregnancy, nourish the fetus, and sustain the infant. The ability to become pregnant creates differences in hormonal, metabolic, and immunological profiles between women and men. Recognition that asthma and lung function are related to gender and reproductive events, and the understanding that the interaction between hormonal, metabolic, and immunological status also plays a role in respiratory health, has led to a new paradigm in asthma epidemiology over the past fifteen years. In addition, there are gender-related differences in maternal and paternal transmission of risk for asthma and obesity to the next generation.
Real will first present evidence on gender differences in lung health, focusing on asthma and lung function, then discuss the relationship between respiratory health and sex hormone-related events, and finally explore gender-specific associations between parental risk factors and offspring obesity and respiratory health.
Can we extrapolate from this research to the study of cardiovascular disease—not only within one generation, but across generations?
Professor Francisco Gómez Real, MD PhD, divides his time between scientific and clinical work. He is Professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine (K2), Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen, Norway. He is a specialist in gynecology and obstetrics, and works as Senior Consultant at the Women’s Clinic, Haukeland University Hospital, with particular responsibility for follow-up of pregnant women with obesity. He also has several years of experience in general practice and pulmonary medicine.
Real is an international expert in research on sex hormones, reproductive and metabolic factors in lung health, and leads women’s health studies within the RHINESSA/ECRHS/RHINE networks.
He heads the Research Unit for Health Surveys (FHU, Research Unit for Health Surveys | University of Bergen), a core facility at the University of Bergen conducting clinical research projects—including HUSK3, JOINTHEART and IDA. FHU is a collaboration between the Faculty of Medicine and Haukeland University Hospital (HUS).
His research has been published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (IF 21), JACI, Thorax, PLoS One, European Respiratory Journal, Respiratory Medicine, International Journal of Epidemiology, American Journal of Epidemiology, Menopause, Journal of Clinical Periodontology, Maturitas, Nutrients, among others, and has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Der Standard, El País, Aftenposten, Dagens Medisin, Allergi i Praksis, Tidsskrift for Den Norske Legeforening, and more.
The seminar is hybrid and open to all interested.