Some health guidance is universal, at least on the surface: eat well, exercise, reduce stress and listen to your body.

But for women to maintain wellness, they -- and their doctors -- must pay attention to unique needs. Some are a result of women's biology. Others stem from differing cultural expectations, medical bias or a lack of research.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Women suffer higher rates of autoimmune diseases -- possibly because of the body's preparations for pregnancy and the evolution of the placenta.

• For decades, women were all but excluded from clinical trials and even today much remains unknown about how they might react differently to medications. This could be compounded for minority groups, who also are underrepresented in research populations.
  

• A related challenge is that research often lags on understanding how even common drugs affect fetal development, complicating pregnancy decisions.
  
  
• Parental depression is prevalent, but the medical community lacks a comprehensive strategy to treat depressed mothers and to prevent problems in their children.
  

• Implicit biases lead many doctors to discount women's description of symptoms, leading to improper treatment, incorrect diagnoses and higher rates of death. Check your own practices and teach your patients to advocate for themselves.

• Other common differences between women's and men's health risks appear on this NIH list, and this article details three conditions for which women are under-diagnosed.