What you probably already know: According to a new study by the Schiller Kessler Group, more than 12 million Americans have their conditions misdiagnosed by medical professionals every year. The illnesses that are most commonly misdiagnosed, such as heart attacks and fibromyalgia, also affect women the most or are more commonly dismissed in women.
Why it matters: An incorrect diagnosis means delays in receiving the correct kinds of treatment, having to undergo the wrong procedures, or taking medications that can have dangerous side effects. In extreme cases, incorrect diagnoses can lead to permanent disability or death. The Schiller Kessler Group study found that the most commonly misdiagnosed illness was heart attacks in women, which were dismissed as other conditions such as anxiety or indigestion in 50 percent of cases in a potentially critical time period. Women under the age of 55 were also seven times more likely to be sent home without proper cardiac testing. Other top misdiagnosed illnesses includes fibromyalgia, which affects 4.2 percent of women vs. 1.4 percent of men; endometriosis, which is misdiagnosed in 75 percent of cases; and multiple sclerosis, which is almost three times more common in women. Apart from potentially dire medical effects, misdiagnoses also lead to psychological harm in patients and cost the U.S. health care system an estimated $870 billion annually.
What it means: Women’s health is still systemically under-researched and vastly misunderstood. The World Economic Forum reports that only 7 percent of health care research focuses on conditions that exclusively affect women. Other knowledge gaps exist in therapeutic areas such as cardiology and oncology. Only 5 percent of available medications have been tested, monitored, and labeled for people who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
What happens now? These statistics are improving. The average wait time for a correct multiple sclerosis diagnosis has decreased from 4.2 years in the early 2000s to just 1.1 years in 2025 — however, most MS patients still report an initial misdiagnosis. More funding is also starting to funnel into research in women’s health. The Gates Foundation has committed $2.5 billion by 2030 on global women’s health research; the Trump administration reversed its decision to terminate funding for the Women’s Health Initiative that was created in 2024; and a new initiative called the National Strategy to Close the Women’s Health Gap is calling on Congress to invest $20 billion in related research.
