The 12 Most Common Health Problems in Men Versus Women
Men are more likely to get Parkinson’s disease and cancer, women are more likely to suffer mental health problems and go blind, and much more
Men and women are inherently different, especially at the genetic level, and this shows best when looking at the different health problems men and women are most susceptible to.
For example, men are more likely to suffer from gout and kidney stones, and from Abdominal aortic aneurysms and hypertension, women are more likely to suffer from strokes and UTIs, along with migraines and yeast problems.
The list goes on. Here are the 12 most common health problems in men versus women.
Men are more likely to get Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative after Alzheimer’s. For example, in the US at current there are 1 million people diagnosed with it, and 1 in 37 people will be diagnosed with it over their lifetime.
However, men are 1.5 more likely to get it than women.
Despite this, the disease in women is typically more aggressive, and as such, women have a higher mortality rate and tend to see a faster disease progression.
It is unknown at present why these differences exist. But it is known that if a woman has her ovaries removed prior to menopause, she sees her risk factor of developing the disease increase to be equal to the same as men’s.
This implies the differences must be somehow related to genetics.
To further back this up, a parent with the disease increases the chance of a child having it by two. As boys are more likely to get it, this has led some to believe it may be linked to women having two X chromosomes, and somehow this gives them a little more protection.
But again, no studies have been able to back this up or find any direct genetic reasons for this disparity.
All that can be said is it is somehow linked to genetic differences between men and women, perhaps hormonal based, so estrogen, or perhaps linked to mitochondrial dysfunction.
One thing studies have found is that environmental factors increase the chances of both men and women getting the disease. For example, blows to the head increase the probability of Parkinson’s, as do concussions — women are more at risk of concussions.
Also, exposure to toxins, including pesticides and herbicides, appear to increase the chances of getting the disease — men are more likely to be exposed to these.
This is why many are concluding that it must be an array of factors that leads to Parkinson’s, so both genetic and environment-based, and men appear to be more at risk on both counts, which is perhaps shown by the fact that the disease is growing faster in men than women.
Women are more likely to suffer from eye disease
Women are more likely to suffer from eye diseases than men. For example, 66 percent of people who are blind are women, women also make up 65 percent of age-related muscular degeneration, and 61 percent of patients with glaucoma and cataracts.
The reasons for this are not presently fully understood, and one of the factors is believed to be that women typically live longer.
Another factor is believed to be the fact that women typically play a larger role in the earlier days of raising children. Children are prone to a condition called Trachoma, which can lead to serious eye damage and even blindness if not addressed quickly, and because mothers typically spend more time with children, they are more likely to catch it — women make up 70 percent of those with Trachoma.
However, the differences are greater than these and other factors alone could explain, hence, there is believed to also be a genetic link.
For example, women are more prone to a condition called dry eye in their youth than men are, and after menopause, become twice as likely as men to suffer from it.
Also, autoimmune disorders are more common in women, and typically eye problems come with autoimmune disorders.
Women are also 2 to 3 times more likely to suffer from migraines than men, which also are linked to eye problems, and then puberty and pregnancy are also believed to play a part, as may the menstrual cycle — some believe hormonal fluctuations may cause more eye problems by putting women more at risk of eyestrain.
All that is known for sure is that women appear to be more at risk on both the genetic and environmental level, despite 86 percent of women mistakenly believing men and women are equally at risk.
Men are more likely to be colour blind
1 in 12 men suffer from colour blindness; however, only 1 in 200 women do. The reason for this difference is women have two X chromosomes, but men only have one, and yet colour blindness is passed down through the X chromosome.
This gives women an inherent advantage. This is because as women have two X chromosomes, the genetic defect must be in both X chromosomes, otherwise, the woman will not suffer colour blindness.
This is because the X chromosome without the defect will override the X chromosome with the defect.
However, sons only have one X chromosome, which they get from their mother. If that one X chromosome has the defect in it, even if that mother has one good X chromosome, which is why she is not colour blind, that son will be colour blind, because she has given him the other one.
That means for a woman to become colour blind, the father must be colour blind, and the mother must have at least one chromosome that has the defect in it, and she must pass that chromosome with that defect attached to her daughter.
Statistically speaking, it is very rare for such a scenario to happen; hence, why it’s rare for women to be colour blind.
However, because 12 percent of women carry this gene, it is not rare for women to be tetrachromats, which is tantamount to having super vision through colour perception.
People who are tetrachromats have the ability to see an incredible 100 million colours — the average person can see 1 million colours.
The reason there is such potential for women to be tetrachromatic is due to the very defect which, if passed to their son, makes them colour blind.
To explain, most people are trichromats, which means they have three cone cells in their eyes — cone cells are what allow us to perceive colour. In people who are colour blind, they have two normal cone cells, and one mutant.
However, people who are tetrachromatic have four — three normal ones and a mutant.
Yep, in women, if they have one X chromosome without the defect, and one with the defect, it leaves them with technically four cone cells, three normal ones and the mutant one.
It seems the mutant one, when added to three functional ones, leads to the potential for super colour perception. It does not guarantee it, but there is a rising belief that if women with four cone cells were taught how to see the extra colours, then most would likely gain this superpower.
That means colour blindness being passed down to a female from one parent can lead to super colour perception, but the same cannot happen in males, who, if they are passed the defect, become colour blind.
Yep, if you have a parent who is colour blind, it pays to be a daughter.
Women are more likely to suffer depression and anxiety
Women are near twice as likely as men to suffer major depressive mental health problems, anxiety problems, and stress-related problems.
The reasons why are not yet fully understood, but it is believed to be due to biological factors rather than socio-economic factors and the like.
For example, a 2015 study concluded that:
“The fact that increased prevalence of depression correlates with hormonal changes in women, particularly during puberty, prior to menstruation, following pregnancy and at perimenopause, suggests that female hormonal fluctuations may be a trigger for depression.”
So, the consensus is it is linked to hormonal fluctuations in women, which are linked to things like puberty, menstruation and menopause — especially estrogen fluctuations.
This is why it is believed that young women between 14 and 25 suffer the highest incidence of depression in the world.
It is also believed to be why so many females between these ages self-harm, with 25 percent of females in this age range reporting having self-harmed versus 10 percent of men.
Another factor is believed to be related to our internal stress triggers, which are believed to differ in men versus women.
For example, it has been found that men are more prone to suffer depressive and stress-related issues caused by external factors, so work and goal-orientated, whereas women are more prone to supper depressive and stress-related issues caused by internal factors, so relationships — think family, friends, romantic and the like.
For example, 1 in 3 men report work-related factors as the main reason for their stress, versus only 1 in 5 women.
Because there is a higher probability of relationships running into problems than people suffering severe work problems, inevitably, this further increases the susceptibility of women to major depressive, anxiety and stress-related problems.
It should be noted that societal pressures do play a part in the higher level of these problems in women. For example, women are three times more likely to suffer from eating disorders and PTSD than men.
But even if these pressures were taken away, it is believed that women would still suffer these problems to a higher degree on average than men due to biological differences.
Men are the most likely to commit suicide
1 in 15 people will attempt suicide over their life, and men are between 3 and 4 times more likely to commit suicide than women; however, this is despite the fact that women are between 3 and 4 times more likely to attempt to kill themselves.
That means yes, men kill themselves more, yet women make far more suicide attempts.
To put into perspective the difference, for every 25 suicide attempts, there will be one suicide. However, when separated into genders, that would mean for every 88 female suicide attempts, there will be one woman who succeeds, yet for every 7 male attempts, there will be one man who will.
That means men are 13 times more likely to be successful at killing themselves than women.
There are various different views over why this is. Firstly, men are far less likely to talk about their feelings, with one study finding that men are 40 percent less likely to have spoken to someone.
That means by the time men report problems and seek help, or by the time they even realise and acknowledge they have problems, they are much further gone and so the reaction can be much more explosive.
Secondly, as mentioned, men are more prone to external factors causing mental health problems, so finances et cetera, and these tend to lead to more severe reactions.
But thirdly, and most importantly, men on average use more deadly methods, and are more successful even when the same method is used.
So, just as men are more likely to commit murder than women, and are more likely to be successful at committing murder, they are also simply better and more successful at killing themselves.
This is why it’s so important to get men talking to people more, men’s greater prowess at killing themselves means catching mental health problems in men very early is extremely important.
Women are more prone to skin diseases and complaints
Women are more likely to suffer skin problems than men. It isn’t black and white across the board. For example, men are more at risk of skin cancer, and men are more likely to suffer from infectious skin diseases.
But for the most part, women are at the most risk and are more likely to suffer from psychosomatic problems, pigmentary disorders, certain hair diseases, allergic diseases, sex-associated dermatoses and certain skin malignancies, they are also more at risk of acne.
For example, a study found that 51 percent of women in the 20’s reported suffering from acne versus 42 percent of men. The disparity gets wider the older we get, in our 30s, 35 percent of women report acne versus 20 percent of men, in our 40s, it is 26 percent of women versus 12 percent of men, then for people in their 50s and older it is 15 percent of women versus 7 percent of men.
The reason for the difference in acne is believed to be women’s fluctuating hormones. So, puberty, menstruation and menopause. This is why women typically report more instances of acne and spot outbreaks around their menstruation cycles.
Other skin conditions that are more common in women are melasma, which typically comes with pregnancy and leads to brown spots on women’s faces, it is often nicknamed the mask of pregnancy; intertrigo, which is a friction-based rash; perioral dermatitis, which presents a bit like rosacea mixed with acne and lichen sclerosis, which is a painful chronic inflammatory condition which commonly shows up in the genital region and gets often mistaken for a persistent yeast problem.
Also, women’s greater risk of autoimmune diseases typically brings with it more skin problems. For example:
“Females have a higher incidence of connective tissue diseases such as primary Sjögren syndrome (pSS) and scleroderma.”
These two conditions are autoimmune disorders, and skin problems are typically a symptom of autoimmune disorders.
Note: acne is only a developed world complaint, it does not exist in indigenous people — even in pregnant women. This is because acne is an inflammation condition, and it appears the Western diet and lifestyle promotes inflammation.
Men are more likely to suffer neurodevelopmental disorders
Men are believed to be 3 times more likely to suffer neurodevelopment disorders than women. For example, they are believed to be 3 times more likely to be autistic than women, 3 times more likely to have ADHD, and 3 times more likely to have Tourette’s syndrome.
It should be noted that there is still debate over whether the conditions are more prevalent in women than currently believed, and whether it is simply more difficult to pick them up because they typically don’t present as severe in women.
For example, when it comes to ADHD, the diagnosis tends to focus on external symptoms, such as impulsivity and hyperactivity, which are less prevalent in female sufferers who are more likely to be inattentive.
However, it is widely accepted that men are more prone to suffering neurodevelopmental disorders, and on average suffer more severe forms, with biological differences being the reason.
The main thinking at current is it is related to women having two X chromosomes.
It is believed that the rare gene variant that causes things like autism and ADHD and the like exists in the X chromosome, and because women have two, if the gene variant that causes the problems exists in only one of the two, the other one can override it.
However, because men only have one X chromosome, the same cannot happen for them, giving them a vulnerability.
But the process as a whole is still widely not understood and, as such, a lot more research is needed to fully understand the reasons for why men are so much more prone to these types of conditions.
Women are more likely to suffer autoimmune diseases
Of the 8 percent of the population who are affected by autoimmune disorders, 78 percent of them are female. That means women are four times more likely to suffer autoimmune diseases than men.
For example, women account for 95% of patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome, 90 percent of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 90 percent of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, 85 percent of patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases, 80 percent of patients with systemic sclerosis, 65 percent of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 60 percent of patients with multiple sclerosis.
It’s not presently fully understood why women are so much more susceptible to autoimmune disorders. There are two theories, the first is linked to the fact that women don’t get pregnant as much as they used to.
As crazy as it may seem, the idea is that it is possible that women’s bodies are so tuned to getting pregnant a lot, that the lack of frequent pregnancies causes fluctuations in hormones which would otherwise be regulated by regular pregnancies. But because they are not, it leads to a higher instance of autoimmune disorders in modern women.
The other theory is that it is linked to women having two X chromosomes.
Basically, because women have two X chromosomes, during the gene expression phase typically only one of the X chromosomes expresses a gene, which leads the other to deactivate.
However, the idea is that sometimes this does not happen, and women end up with two of the same genes being expressed, which potentially increases the chances of autoimmune disorders.
But the reasons are still heavily debated and under investigation. Also, it should be noted that some autoimmune disorders are more common in men. For example, men make up about 60 percent of the patients with Ankylosing spondylitis, and diabetes is equally split between men and women, as is Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Also, many of the diseases are more aggressive in men than women. For example, multiple sclerosis is typically especially more aggressive in men.
But again, it’s unknown why the disorders are more aggressive in men even though they are less common. This is why much more research and awareness of these problems is required, especially regarding the differing risk factors in men versus women.
Men are more likely to get cancer
It is widely known that whereas 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer over their lifetimes, for men, it is 1 in 2. That means men are 1.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than women.
They are also 40 percent more likely to die from cancer than women.
For decades, it was believed that the reasons for this were down to lifestyle chances. However, whereas it has been discovered that these factors do play a part, the predominant reasons appear to be actually down to genetics.
For example, a 2016 study discovered that women carry an extra copy of certain genes which men don’t have. It’s believed that these genes provide an additional line of defence to women, which prevents cancerous cells from growing out of control.
It’s believed that there are also further genetic factors at play. For example, estrogen is believed to play a role in protecting women against cancer, with other hormones believed to make women more receptive to treatments.
However, these factors are not presently understood enough and further research is needed, and a lot of it at that, especially over why men are so much more likely to get it, and die from it.
Women are more likely to suffer joint problems
When it comes to joint problems, women are far more likely to suffer them than men. For example, there are twice as many women with osteoarthritis, and the difference becomes especially exacerbated when it comes to arthritis in the knees and hands — women are significantly more likely to become disabled due to knee problems.
Also, the disparity becomes wider still after the age of 55 i.e. after women have gone through menopause.
The exact reasons for women’s greater risk of joint problems are not presently known, but the belief is it is linked to genetic differences, specifically around hormones.
For example, it’s believed that estrogen plays a role in cartilage production. As such, when estrogen levels decrease, so does the amount of cartilage cushioning the joint.
This would mean that each month, as the amount of estrogen produced fluctuates with the menstrual cycle, so does the amount of cartilage protection women have.
If this was the case, then women would have less protection of their joints based on the time of the month. It would also mean that after menopause, this much less protection would become permanent, which may help explain why the problem becomes so pronounced during and after menopause.
This reality is believed to also explain why women are at so much greater risk of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a bone-weakening disease which mainly afflicts the over 50s, 1 in 2 women suffer from it versus 1 in 4 men.
Estrogen tends to protect against this disease due to having a protective effect on bone density, but women after menopause lose this protection — at least a lot of it.
That means initial fluctuating estrogen levels put women at higher risk of bone breakages and joint problems in their youth, and then after menopause, due to a collapse in estrogen levels, puts them at even greater risk.
Though it is not just hormonal differences that put them at greater risk, anatomical differences do as well. Firstly, breasts are believed to affect the aerodynamics of the female body, making it less efficient than the male and so increasing the risk of joint problems. Pregnancy further exacerbates these problems.
Also, women have naturally smaller bones and joints, meaning they can handle less stress. Also, it’s believed that women’s wider hip displacement (i.e. women have wider hips) puts more stress on the outside of the knee joints, which may lead to a higher prevalence of joint problems in women.
Women also have increased joint and ligament mobility compared to men i.e. women are more limber. This greater elasticity allows more agility and movement, but the price is a greater risk of developing joint pain.
It’s also believed that women’s wider hips and greater joint and ligament mobility, added to the menstrual cycle, may be one of the reasons women are so much more likely to suffer from ACL injuries, with women being between 2 and 8 times more likely to suffer ACL injuries than men.
This matters because ACL injuries make a person between 4 and 6 times more likely to suffer from problems.
All in all, the differences are complex but considering more women than ever are getting involved in sports and fitness, and more than that, women are the biggest users of mobile phones, despite being 3.5 times more likely to suffer hand problems, much more research and awareness is needed otherwise women could end up with a lot more joint problems in the future.
Men are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular diseases
Men are twice as likely as women to suffer from cardiovascular diseases. This includes heart disease, coronary heart problems, and high blood pressure.
As a result, men are twice as likely as women to suffer from a heart attack, and the gap is even higher in young men versus young women.
It was believed originally that this may be down to lifestyle choices; however, recent studies have found that even once these are taken into account, men are simply far more likely to suffer heart problems.
For example, problems in women start presenting 7 to 10 years later in life than in men, which would not be the case if it were lifestyle choices alone.
In terms of why men are more susceptible, no one is sure. There was a belief that naturally occurring hormones in women like estrogen may have somehow given them more protection.
But it was found this was not the case as once women transition to menopause, the risk factor does not increase in relation to the change in hormones which, if the hormones in question had played a part, it would have done.
However, women do become increasingly susceptible once they have gone through menopause, which is why many still believe there must be a link of some sort.
Also, despite men being more at risk, women are at high risk. For example, in the UK, 1 in 7 men die from a heart attack each year versus 1 in 11 women. That means women are twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease as they are from breast cancer.
They also, despite having a lower chance of having heart problems, when they do get them, are more likely to die from them than men. They also are more likely to die from them having shown no previous symptoms beforehand.
Also, whereas men are more likely to develop blockages in the major arteries, women are more prone to developing blockages in the small heart arteries — which are much harder to identify and treat.
These facts are things that are not widely known, which is why heart problems tend to be under-reported in women.
Another factor which can hinder women in this area is that women are far more susceptible to broken heart syndrome, which is a condition where stress can cause a person to present the symptoms of a heart attack without actually having one.
These factors often lead women with heart problems to be misdiagnosed or for the problems to be missed entirely.
This is why much more research is needed into understanding how to identify, support and treat both men and women when it comes to heart problems.
Women are more likely to get Alzheimer’s disease
Women account for over two-thirds of those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, which means they are close to twice at risk of suffering from it.
It was first believed that the reason why was simply that women live longer. However, studies have found that this is not the whole story, and there appears to be a genetic link.
In terms of what that is, at present nobody is certain; however, researchers from Harvard University have found that Alzheimer’s disease is perhaps linked to the brain’s immune system.
If this was the case, with women’s greater prowess to autoimmune disorders, it may help explain why women are more prone to suffering from Alzheimer’s disease than men.
Another factor that has led people to believe it is linked to genetics is the fact that nearly two-thirds of people with Alzheimer’s disease have a gene variant called ‘ApoE4.’ Both men and women are equally as likely to have this gene variant; however, its effects on dementia risk appear to be greater in women than men.
Also, it’s believed that estrogen may play a protective influence on the brain. After menopause, women see a large drop in estrogen production.
As Alzheimer’s disease typically starts forming between 10 and 20 years prior to the onset of symptoms, and women typically start showing symptoms around 10 and 20 years after menopause, it has led some to question whether there is a potential correlation i.e. that the sudden large drop in estrogen production caused by menopause somehow vastly increases the chances of forming Alzheimer’s disease.
Further evidence to back this up is that a study found there to be an association between getting dementia and the age at which a woman first menstruates and goes through menopause, and the time between her first menstruation and menopause.
There is also extensive sex-related differences in the way Alzheimer’s disease behaves clinically in men versus women, with some speculating that these differences must be somehow related to women having two X chromosomes and men having an X and Y.
To further back this up, there are differences in the brain composition of men and women, and it is believed this potentially plays a part.
For example, the brains of Alzheimer’s patients are typically characterised “by the presence of beta-amyloid (Aß) plaques deposited between the brain cells, tangles of tau proteins inside the neurons, and extensive neuronal death.”
The expression of genes that contribute to the development of these plaques appears to be more present in the brains of females.
However, a lot more research is needed to fully understand why women are so at risk compared to men, especially considering for all other kinds of dementia (Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia), men and women are at equal risk.
That’s all from me, thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, you may also enjoy the following:
15 Fascinating Anatomical Differences between Men and Women That You Probably Didn’t Know
The Five Ways How Becoming a Parent Neurologically Changes Men Versus Women
30 Things That Happen To Our Bodies As We Grow Older
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