Men Worse Off Than Women For 20 Top Health Problems Worldwide

Follow Drugslib on

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on May 5, 2025.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, May 5, 2025 — Men are much more likely than women to die early from the world’s 20 leading health problems, a new global study shows.

Sickness and death was higher in men than women in 2021 for 13 of the top 20 causes of injury and illness, including COVID-19, traffic injuries, heart problems, lung ailments and liver diseases, researchers reported May 1 in The Lancet Public Health.

“Our findings shine a light on the significant and unique health challenges faced by males,” co-lead investigator Vedavati Patwardhan, a research scientist with the University of California-San Diego, said in a news release.

“Among these challenges are conditions that lead to premature deaths, notably in the form of road injuries, cancers, and heart disease,” Patwardhan continued. “We need national health plans and strategies to address the health needs of men throughout their lives, including interventions targeting behavioral risks such as alcohol use and smoking that typically begin at a young age.”

Women tend to live longer, but they endure higher levels of illness during their lifespan, researchers added.

Muscle and bone conditions, mental health problems and headaches are among the non-fatal diseases that plague women, results show.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, the largest and most comprehensive effort to track illness and death from disease around the world.

The effort focused on health differences between conditions that affect both men and women, excluding gender-specific illnesses like ovarian or prostate cancers.

Results showed that men experienced 45% more illness and death from COVID-19 than women, with the largest differences seen in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, researchers said.

“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,” senior researcher Luisa Sorio Flor, an assistant professor with the Institute for Health Metrics (IHME) and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle, said in a news release.

Heart disease had the next largest impact on male health compared to females, with men experiencing 45% more illness and death compared to women.

Men experienced the greatest heart-related burden in Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where they were 49% more likely to be sick or die from heart disease.

Conditions that affect men more than women tend to involve smaller increased risks at younger ages, but the gap widens as people grow older, researchers found.

The exception was road injuries, which disproportionately affected young males aged 10 to 24 around the world.

Low back pain was the biggest contributor to illness among women, with females suffering rates more than a third higher than men in 2021, researchers said. Women in high-income countries, Latin America and the Caribbean were particularly affected.

Unlike men, women tended to start early in life suffering from conditions that affect them more, and those conditions intensify with age.

“Large causes of health loss in women, particularly musculoskeletal disorders and mental health conditions, have not received the attention that they deserve,” co-lead researcher Gabriela Gil, a research fellow with IHME, said in a news release. “It’s clear that women's healthcare needs to extend well beyond areas that health systems and research funding have prioritized to date, such as sexual and reproductive concerns.”

These results dovetail with another study published May 1 in PLOS Medicine which found that men are more likely than women to die from high blood pressure, diabetes and HIV/AIDS, typically because they shrug off medical care.

The new study highlights “how females and males differ in many biological and social factors that fluctuate and, sometimes, accumulate over time, resulting in them experiencing health and disease differently at each stage of life and across world regions,” Flor said.

“The challenge now is to design, implement, and evaluate sex- and gender-informed ways of preventing and treating the major causes of morbidity and premature mortality from an early age and across diverse populations,” Flor concluded.

Sources

  • Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, news release, May 1, 2025

    • Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

    Source: HealthDay

    Posted : 2025-05-06 00:00

    Read more

    Disclaimer

    Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided by Drugslib.com is accurate, up-to-date, and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. Drug information contained herein may be time sensitive. Drugslib.com information has been compiled for use by healthcare practitioners and consumers in the United States and therefore Drugslib.com does not warrant that uses outside of the United States are appropriate, unless specifically indicated otherwise. Drugslib.com's drug information does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients or recommend therapy. Drugslib.com's drug information is an informational resource designed to assist licensed healthcare practitioners in caring for their patients and/or to serve consumers viewing this service as a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgment of healthcare practitioners.

    The absence of a warning for a given drug or drug combination in no way should be construed to indicate that the drug or drug combination is safe, effective or appropriate for any given patient. Drugslib.com does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the aid of information Drugslib.com provides. The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have questions about the drugs you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.

    Popular Keywords