Women's health in spaceflight.

OBJECTIVE

To review the current state of knowledge with regards to clinical challenges related to women's health during spaceflight.

METHODS

Articles were reviewed relevant to "women", "sex," and "gender" in "microgravity," "weightlessness," and "spaceflight" in the English and Russian languages.

RESULTS

There were 50 papers identified. Studies have shown that crewmembers suffer from space motion sickness, but gender discrepancies have not been explored. Nearly all women experience orthostatic intolerance in space, which may be due to differences in female cardiovascular response. Immunosuppression in spaceflight results in susceptibility to opportunistic infections, but no studies have investigated gender differences. Finally, radiation exposure and germ cell viability influence the reproductive health of astronauts.

CONCLUSIONS

With changes in space access offered by commercial space activities, research areas devoted to women's health in microgravity should become one of the priorities for safe space exploratory efforts.