An American study has identified marked differences between conditions affecting women and men.
- There are significant health disparities between men and women.
- Women are more likely to develop non-life-threatening, but disabling, conditions compared to men.
- Conversely, men are more at risk of developing diseases that lead to their premature death.
Researchers at the University of Washington (United States) recently observed health disparities between men and women. In their work published in the journal The Lancet Public Healththey noted in particular that non-fatal, but disabling conditions are more common in women than in men.
Depressive and anxiety disorders more common in women
To reach this conclusion, scientists analyzed data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, to compare the total number of years of life lost due to illness and premature death based on gender. This measure is known as disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). They then compared the impact of the 20 leading causes of disease among women and men aged over 10 globally and in seven world regions, between 1990 and 2021.
Among the pathologies studied, it was observed that the greatest factors of loss of health in women are:
- Low back pain;
- Depressive disorders;
- Headaches ;
- Anxiety disorders ;
- Alzheimer’s disease ;
- Musculoskeletal disorders;
- HIV.
These conditions can impact the daily lives of patients throughout their lives, but do not generally lead to their premature death. The largest difference was observed in low back pain. Women had DALY rates a third higher than men in 2021 (1,265 versus 787 DALYs per 100,000) for this pathology.
“Women live longer, but have more years in poor health”
As for men, they are more affected by pathologies that lead to premature deaths, such as Covid-19, LCardiovascular diseases or respiratory diseases. “This report shows that over the past 30 years, global progress in health has been uneven. Women are living longer, but have more years in poor health, and progress is limited in reduction in the burden of morbidity and disability (…) Likewise, men face a much greater and increasing burden of morbidity, which has fatal consequences”underlined Dr. Luisa Sorio Flor, of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), at the University of Washington.
