Health Disparities Between Men and Women

New Delhi: Men are disproportionately affected by conditions and events leading to early death, including COVID-19, heart disease, and road injuries, while women suffer from higher levels of non-fatal illnesses such as mental health conditions and headaches, a new global research published in The Lancet Public Health journal has found.

The findings highlighted the diverse and evolving health needs of men and women at different stages of their lives, said researchers who analysed disparities in the 20 leading causes of disease risking populations across ages and regions between 1990 and 2021.

Key Findings

• Men lost 45 per cent more life years from COVID-19 than women.
• Overall COVID-19 was the leading cause of health loss in 2021, with males experiencing 45 per cent more health loss from COVID-19 than females (3,978 vs 2,211 age-standardised Disability-Adjusted Life Years per 100,000).
• The greatest sex-based gap in health loss that disadvantaged women was for low back pain, with the gap being the most pronounced in South Asia, followed by Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.
• The health differences appear in teenage and continue to grow with age, with women enduring higher levels of illness and disability their entire lives, as they tend to live longer than men.

The authors said that progress towards an equitable, healthy future should involve "concerted, sex- and gender-informed strategies" which recognise the unique challenges that men and women face in their lives. They called for countries to strengthen their reporting of sex and gender data, and use them to overhaul their approach to health.

Research Methodology

The modelling research uses data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 to compare the number of life years lost to illness and premature death in the past 30 years.

"The timing is right for this study and call to action—not only because of where the evidence is now, but because COVID-19 has starkly reminded us that sex differences can profoundly impact health outcomes," said senior author Luisa Sorio Flor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington, US. IHME coordinated the study.

Regional Observations

• While COVID-19 disproportionately affected men across all regions, the widest sex-based difference was observed in sub-Saharan Africa, and the Latin America and the Caribbean regions.
• Cardiovascular disease and road injuries were found to be other important conditions resulting in premature deaths.
• Women around the world were also found to be disproportionately impacted by mental health conditions.
• Life years lost to depressive disorders were found to be over a third higher among women than men. The widest sex-based gaps affecting women were observed in high-income countries, and those in Latin America and the Caribbean countries.