Men affected more by fatal events, women by non-fatal ones in 2021: Lancet Study

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, they found.

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.

The modelling research uses data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 to compare 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.

While COVID-19 disproportionately affected men across all regions, the widest sex-based difference was observed in the sub-Saharan Africa, and the Latin America and the Caribbean regions, the authors said.

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.