The influence of female sex and estrogens on drug pharmacokinetics: what is the evidence?

Introduction Pharmacological research has traditionally been skewed toward male subjects, leading to uniform treatment guidelines for both men and women that assume similar drug pharmacokinetics across sexes. This oversight contributes to women experiencing adverse drug reactions on average twice as often as men. More recent studies have revealed significant pharmacokinetic differences between the sexes, partly due to different sex hormone levels. Additionally, intraindividual differences in women have been observed due to fluctuating estrogen levels, impacting important aspects of drug pharmacokinetics.