The Role of Cardiovascular Disease Journals in Reporting Sex and Gender in Research

Understanding sex and gender is critical to promoting human health and targeting disease. Although sex is often incorrectly thought to have the same meaning as gender, the terms describe different constructs. Sex is a multidimensional biological construct based on anatomy, physiology, genetics, and hormones. These components are sometimes referred to together as sex traits. Gender can be broadly defined as a multidimensional construct that encompasses social and cultural expectations about status, characteristics, and behavior as they are associated with certain sex traits.