Men: The Stronger Sex?
By Rich Maloof for MSN Health & Fitness

Stronger SexWhen it comes to good health, women paint a prettier picture than we men do. They smoke fewer cigarettes, drink less beer, visit the doctor more often, and maintain better diets.

Statistics may prove that women average longer life spans, but occasionally nature cuts men a break and fortifies us against diseases that afflict females in greater numbers.

For a change of pace and perhaps a change in perception here’s a snapshot of five such conditions. As it turns out, men sometimes do fare better than the fairer sex.

Migraine Headaches

Women experience migraine headaches far more frequently than we men do, and not just because they have to deal with us. The American Headache Society acknowledges that the cause of the disparity is undetermined but that sexual hormones may play a role.

Research shows that before puberty, the prevalence of migraines is nearly matched between girls and boys; but once puberty arrives, migraines afflict girls at three times the rate of boys. Sharp drops in estrogen levels at the front end of a woman’s menstrual cycle are believed to be a culprit.0 The reluctance among men to skip a meal may further explain why just 6 percent of males, compared to 18 percent of females, are prone to these debilitating headaches.

“The migraine brain is sensitive to any type of disruption in the normal day, and it likes to have consistency,” says Dr. David Biondi, headache management consultant at Massachusetts General Hospital. “One of the more important factors for people with migraines is not to miss a meal. When a meal is missed, a person can become hypoglycemic, or low in blood sugar. That’s a big trigger for a lot of people.”

Arthritis

The number of people with arthritis, the leading cause of disability in the U.S., has been steadily increasing in tandem with our aging population. A national health survey completed in 2005 found that a staggering 25.4 percent of adult women had been diagnosed with the condition. Arthritis affected 17.6 percent of men in the same age group.

Why arthritis and its related conditions (rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus, fibromyalgia) are tougher on women than men is unclear.

David M. Parrack, a spokesman for Men’s Health Network and chairman of the surgery department at the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, says researchers are considering the roles of genetics, testosterone, and exercise to explain the gender gap. Parrack also notes, “Women tend to seek help to learn more about their arthritis. Men tend to seek help to relieve their symptoms.”

Asthma: a curious pattern

If you plot the prevalence of asthma along two curves, one for men and one for women, you see a curious criss-crossing of lines. From birth to teenage years, and again in late adulthood, males with asthma outnumber females. But in midlife, asthma is more severe and more common among women. No one is quite sure why, but since 2004 pulmonologists have considered the impact of estrogen on the respiratory system.

A study presented that year to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology emphasized the interaction of sex and age, and said that "airway hyperresponsiveness may be influenced by sex hormones.” The theory holds, for the time being, while researchers pursue a greater understanding of how gender influences chronic asthma. Meanwhile, middle-aged men can breathe a bit more easily.

Eating Disorders

Catch two minutes of a reality show or any commercial for “body spray” and it’s clear that young men today are bombarded with messages about body image, much like their female counterparts. There has long existed significant social pressure evolutionary pressure, even for men to be strong and fit. Yet, for every 10 females with an eating disorder, there’s just one male coping with a condition like anorexia or bulimia.

As many narrow-waisted men will tell you, appearing thin or frail can be more an indictment of one’s masculinity than being heavy. Men “tend not to want to lose weight but gain muscle to improve their physique,” says Susan Kayne of the National Eating Disorders Association.

While a degree of immunity to weight perception may benefit men’s health, Kayne suggests that significant under-reporting also explains why rates appear to run low among males. Not only are men apt to deny and conceal a condition perceived to be reserved for females, but “since eating disorders are typically seen as women’s illnesses, they are often not even considered by doctors when examining a male patient,” she says.

Studies suggest the risks of eating disorders including death are the same for males and females alike. As the pressures mount on teenaged boys, we hope more of the 1 million guys out there with an eating disorder will seek help.

Depression: a female condition?

Depression

Depression is so complex a disorder, and often so entangled with other mental and physical conditions, that broad characterizations about gender can be misleading. For example, bipolar disorder affects men and women in equal numbers; women are more likely to have anxiety disorders; and men are far more likely to die by suicide, though women attempt it three times more often.

However, on the grandest scale, depression appears to be about twice as common among women as among men, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Genetics, biology, and social factors may all contribute to the disparity, and several theories revolve around the rollercoaster of emotion brought on by changes in sexual hormones, to which men are far less susceptible. According to NIMH research, hormones directly affect the brain chemistry that controls emotions and mood. Men are spared all the estrogen-controlled conditions premenstrual dysphoric disorder, postpartum depression, menopause—that commonly plague women. Still, most experts hypothesize that depression among men is far higher than statistics imply.

“It’s important not to stereotype a disease like depression” as a female condition, emphasizes Dr. Michelle Riba, professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan. Riba, a past president of the American Psychiatric Association, notes that men are generally disinclined to pursue professional help even when classic symptoms of depression emerge.

“Men may blow off their feelings, attributing their mood to things like financial difficulties or a bad stock market,” she says. “Family members should not be afraid to encourage their loved ones to seek help.”

A battle, though not a battle of the sexes

It’s interesting to note, as Anne Case and Christina Paxson of Princeton University did in a 2004 paper, that women may be more susceptible to conditions that contribute greatly to suffering—arthritis, headaches, vision problems—but relatively little to mortality. Men, meantime, are the kings of killers, significantly more likely be stricken with deadly illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and COPD.

It’s not a crown that we wear proudly. But as science gains a deeper understanding of how gender affects the onset of disease, men and women alike stand to live longer, healthier lives.