This article explores the reasons behind women's lower rates of attending regular health appointments, highlighting the role of anxiety, cost, and societal expectations. It also delves into gender-specific concerns, such as dismissal of symptoms and bias in medical care, emphasizing the unique challenges women face in prioritizing their own health.
Guidelines from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend that women have regular – and, usually, annual – health appointments, such as pap smears, mammograms, and physicals. These appointments serve to examine women’s health overall and to check for and, ideally, catch any potentially adverse health developments, such as cancer, cysts, or infections.
However, a recent study found that women aren’t following that recommended schedule – and are putting their own health at risk as a result. 33% of women reported feeling behind on key healthcare appointments, especially mammograms (36%), gynecological exams (32%), and annual physicals (27%). Of those women, the most common reason why they felt behind was anxiety about going to the doctor (33%). The second and third most popular reasons were cost (31%) and feeling too busy taking care of children (18%). For those women, the most common reason (which 33% of women reported) was anxiety about going to the doctor’s in the first place. Studies have shown similar trends in men, though the reasons for avoiding regular check-ups differ. For example, a 2019 study found that among its approximately 1,174 American male respondents, 77% were married or in a domestic partnership would rather go shopping with their wife or significant other than go to the doctor, only 50% said that they consider getting their annual check-up a regular part of taking care of themselves, and 20% said that they haven’t always been completely honest with their doctor. A 2022 study duplicated these results: out of the 1,000 American men surveyed, 72% of men would rather do household chores (like cleaning the bathroom or mowing the line) than go to the doctor, and 55% of men say they don’t get regular health screenings. The reasons that men and women don’t see doctors regularly, though, do have some differences. For men, those reasons include societal expectations (the 2019 study found 41% of men reported that they were told as children that men don’t complain about health issues), inconvenience (the 2019 study found 61% of men reported that they’d be more likely to go to their annual physical if seeing the doctor were more convenient for them than it was), and even embarrassment (the 2022 study found that 46% of men reported feeling embarrassed, 40% felt uncomfortable, and 39% didn’t want to be judged.)For women, their reasons for avoiding or postponing doctors’ appointments show not only general anxiety but gender-specific anxiety. For example, 6% of women in the Talker Research study explicitly said that they feel their gender plays a role in how they’re diagnosed, 10% feel judged, and 15% reported that their symptoms were dismissed. In both, KFF found similar results: in 2020, 21% of women compared to 12% of men said that a healthcare provider dismissed their concerns and, in 2022, 29% of women compared to 21% of men said the same. KFF’s 2022 survey also revealed that 20% of women who had a negative experience with a healthcare provider thought they were treated that way because of their gender. Additionally, according to TheSkimm State of Women Report in 2024, 59% of women said, “I have sought treatment from doctors who do not believe me, or who have ignored my needs' while 57% said “I have been dismissed or misdiagnosed by medical professionals'. In addition to gender bias once they’re at the doctor’s, historic gender roles may keep women from seeing a doctor in the first place. Women historically have assumed the role of caregivers, taking on theof unpaid care work for children, parents, in-laws, and even pets - at the cost of their own health. The Talker Research study found, specifically, that 66% of women prioritized family obligations over their own health while 18% of the women who felt like they were behind on their regular doctors’ appointments said they felt too busy taking care of their children., Last fall, reached similar conclusions: that 58% of women often prioritize the health of their families over their own, and 63% of women have trouble prioritizing their own health overall. In short, being female can lead to a default position of caregiving which may leave women unable or unwilling to see doctors themselves - and then, even when they are able to have those medical appointments, they may be dismissed, judged, or misdiagnosed also because they are female
Women's Health Healthcare Appointments Anxiety Gender Bias Medical Dismissal
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