Abstract
Despite considerable public health initiatives in the past century, there remains a significant gender inequality in life expectancy. The Global Burden of Diseases study has highlighted that the life expectancy for men is 70.5years, compared with 75.6years for women. This discrepancy in mortality appears to be related to a disproportionately higher number of preventable and premature male deaths. Whilst there has been an increased focus on men's health, as evidenced by the establishment of men's health charities and governmental legislation promoting equality, a recent World Health Organization report has highlighted that there is still a prevailing misconception that the higher rate of premature mortality amongst men is a natural phenomenon. We explore the association of male sexual and reproductive health-related diseases and the potential role of a urologist in addressing gender inequality in life expectancy.
PATIENT SUMMARY: In this report, we discuss the causes for the gender gap in life expectancy and highlight that men continue to have a higher rate of premature death than women, which is associated with diseases of the male reproductive system. Furthermore, this not only appears to be related to a number of metabolic and lifestyle factors, but may also be the result of the increased risk of cancer in men with sexual and reproductive health-related diseases.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 791-800 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | European Urology Focus |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 8 Nov 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 15 Jul 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding/Support and role of the sponsor: None.Author contributions: Tharu Tharakan had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Study concept and design: Tharakan, Minhas.
Acquisition of data: Tharakan, Minhas.
Analysis and interpretation of data: Tharakan, Minhas.
Drafting of the manuscript: Tharakan, Minhas, Salonia.
Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Tharakan, Minhas, Salonia.
Statistical analysis: Tharakan, Minhas.
Obtaining funding: None.
Administrative, technical, or material support: Darraugh, Plass.
Supervision: Bettocchi, Carvalho, Corona, Joensen, Jones, Martínez Salamanca, Serefoglu, Kadioglu, Verze, N’Dow, Salonia, Minhas.
Other: None.
Financial disclosures: Tharu Tharakan certifies that all conflicts of interest, including specific financial interests and relationships and affiliations relevant to the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript (eg, employment/affiliation, grants or funding, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, royalties, or patents filed, received, or pending), are the following: None.
Keywords
- Androgen deprivation
- Cardiovascular disease
- Diabetes
- Gender gap
- Life expectancy
- Male infertility
- Metabolic syndrome
- Prostate cancer
- Testosterone late-onset hypogonadism
- Testosterone replacement therapy
