Another important reason for assessing and reporting analyses of sex relates to the impact that genetic association studies will have (and have had) on personalized medicine. As pharmacogenetics and other therapeutic approaches that are driven by individuals’ genotype become more prominent in healthcare, the consequences of not considering sex differences in treatment decisions has the potential to be harmful to not only the patient, but possibly the field of pharmacogenetics as a whole if public confidence in the field is diminished. To highlight potential consequences, we can consider an example of neuropathic pain. Emerging reports indicate that females with variants in the MC1R gene show analgesia to the kappa-opioid drug pentazocine, but males with the same variants do not [31]. Moreover, polymorphisms in the OPRM1 gene are associated with pressure-related pain sensitivity in men but not in women [32]. Clearly, these sex-specific associations have implications for the efficacy of treatment options, but given the extreme dependence liability of opioid drugs, choosing a drug that will not be effective for its intended use in certain genotypes increases dependence liability while showing
