Sex/Gender Differences in the Diseases

Biological and sociocultural factors related to sex and gender interact to influence noncommunicable diseases. However, as individuals enter adulthood and approach old age, the influence of gender, which is connected to social and cultural factors, becomes stronger than that of sex. These sex and gender factors intermingle with each other, resulting in the final manifestation of disease. The representative diseases are irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gout, and alcohol-related diseases. For individuals who have the same symptoms of IBS, women experience a more severe deterioration in quality of life than men due to differences in social norms and sexual identity. For example, abdominal bloating is typically perceived by men simply as physical discomfort, but women experience further psychological stress because abdominal bloating makes them appear to have gained weight. Next example is gout. In terms of sex, females are protected against gout in the premenopausal period due to uricosurics effect of estrogen, and therefore males outnumber females in all age groups, more in the younger than older age groups by a ratio of 10:1 to 5:1. In terms of gender, women are less likely to take allopurinol and less likely to undergo joint aspirations for crystal analysis to establish diagnosis than men. Another example is alcohol-related diseases. Due to biological differences in alcohol metabolism, women are more intensely affected by alcohol than men. In addition, physical diseases related to alcohol consumption manifest earlier in women and progress more rapidly. In terms of gender, high-risk alcohol consumption is increasing in women in their 20s and 30s because women’s increasing participation in the workforce increases opportunities to alcohol. Furthermore, alcohol problems in women often stem from attempts to relieve stress from work and family duties. Both the general public and medical professionals, such as doctors and nurses, should understand sex/gender differences in reasons for drinking alcohol and the multifaceted effects of alcohol on the body. In addition, medical staffs need to understand the effects of gender on IBS, a chronic and recurrent disease, and the concept of women who are recently diagnosed as gout and the attitudes to the diagnostic approach and treatments of gout.