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Sex and gender are essential factors that shape human health. As research advances, a growing body of evidence is emerging that highlights substantial differences in health between women and men.
Using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study as a basis, the Lancet Public Health magazine published an article that analyzes the differences in the main causes of disease between men and women.
In the study, the inequalities that are reflected between the 20 most common causes of death in men and women were presented. Researchers found that women carry a greater burden of conditions related to morbidity and depressive disorders, while men tend to have higher rates for conditions related to mortality.
While men are disproportionately affected by traffic accidents (72% more than women) and lung cancer (57% more), women suffer more from low back pain (61%) and mental anxiety disorders (65%). .
Brazilian epidemiologist Luísa Flor, professor at the University of Washington (USA), was responsible for coordinating the global work. From the list, problems such as prostate cancer or tumors in the uterus, which only affect one of the biological sexes, were excluded. Check out:
Diseases with greater impacts on women
- Anxiety disorders (64.8%)
- Low back pain (60.9%)
- Headache disorders (58.1%)
- Depressive disorders (52%)
- Other musculoskeletal disorders (48.9%)
- Alzheimer’s and other dementias (37.2%)
- HIV/AIDS (14.1%)
Diseases with greater impacts on men
- Hearing loss (9.7%)
- Diabetes (11.8%)
- Chronic kidney disease (22.7%)
- Stroke (29.3%)
- Fall (31.5%)
- Lower respiratory tract infection (32.8%)
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (36.1%)
- Tuberculosis (42.7%)
- Covid-19 (44.5%)
- Ischemic heart disease (44.7%)
- Cirrhosis and chronic liver diseases (56.7%)
- Trachea/bronchi/lung cancer (56.8%)
- Traffic accidents (71.6%)
The criterion used to measure the impact of each problem was “disability-adjusted life years”, a measure used in epidemiology to calculate how many years of active, quality life a person loses due to illness or injury, whether due to early death. or due to disabling conditions. The calculation takes into account the person’s age and life expectancy.
Source: Redação Terra Você
