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US men are dying much earlier than women, as death 'gender gap' widens: Study
(medicalxpress.com)
this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2023
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They talk about a few causes, but this is the gist of it for anyone who doesn't want to click:
There are also studies that show men are less likely to got to a doctor or they go to late. In part that is because most male bodies tend to take longer before heavy symptoms are coming up but then they progress faster.
It has something to do with differences in immune system of men and women. When for example a man and a woman are infected with the same amount of viruses the women's immune system will react faster so she gets symptoms earlier and goes to the doctor earlier as well. The man won't have any symptoms but then the infection will suddenly progress fast when a critical amount of viruses is reached.
It's of course more complex and there are tons of studies about it, but I think that's something to keep in mind "in practice".
This comes on top of the gender stereotypes which make some men shun the doctor.
You have any sources for that? Never heard of this before; sounds interesting.
There are different studies depending on the pathogen or diesease. But this one describes some of the more general effects I mean:
Sex differences in immune responses
Paywalled, but it provides a good list of additional sources via it's references and list of articles that cite it: The influence of sex and gender on the immune response