Gender differences in health: Are things really as simple as they seem?

MacIntyre, Sally; Hunt, Kate; Sweeting, Helen

doi:10.1016/0277-9536(95)00335-5

Cited by 598 publications

(408 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…16 The findings related to women are in keeping with previous reports in other countries: more women than men were in the lower occupational categories and health differences were more pronounced when educational level rather than occupational category is taken into an account. 17,18 Similarly, job strain has been observed to be a risk factor for high blood pressure in men, but not in women. 19 The role of obesity and high alcohol intake has to be emphasized and carefully discussed with regard to social inequalities in hypertension prevalence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Hypertension Prevalence and Care

et al. 2002

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Abstract-To analyze the health disparities relative to the prevalence of arterial hypertension and its therapeutic control in the active French population, in relation to occupational categories (OC), a population of 17 359 men and 12 267 women was assessed from January 1997 to April 1998. The initial phase was a cross-sectional analysis of a cohort study designed to assess the incidence of arterial hypertension in a French working population. Information was collected by the worksite physician during the annual examination. Blood pressure (BP) was measured using a validated automatic device. Among subjects with a BP Ն140/90 mm Hg, patients not treated with antihypertensive drugs were invited to have an additional BP measurement, 1 month later. Overall prevalence was 16.1% for men and 9.4% for women. Both prevalence and therapeutic control of high BP were related to OCs in this study. Prevalence of hypertension was higher and maintenance of therapeutic control lower among lower OCs. In contrast, awareness of high BP and the proportion of hypertensive subjects under current treatment were not related to OCs. Educational level and low OC were significantly related to prevalence of high BP after adjustment for obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, and sedentary lifestyle in women only. A poor BP control under treatment was related to high alcohol intake and low OC in men. In women only, however, low educational level was related to high prevalence of hypertension and poor BP control under antihypertensive treatment. Inequalities in hypertension prevalence persist, with prevalence being higher among lower OCs. Social disparities were not observed, however, in awareness of their condition among hypertensive subjects and among patients for receiving versus not receiving any treatment for hypertension. In contrast, BP control under antihypertensive treatment was lower among lower OCs. Key Words: hypertension, arterial Ⅲ blood pressure Ⅲ population Ⅲ obesity Ⅲ socioeconomic factors Ⅲ body mass index Ⅲ alcohol Ⅲ epidemiology A rterial hypertension is one of the important determinants of health inequalities of cardiovascular diseases, which have been observed to persist or increase in developed countries in the previous 20 years. 1,2 Higher prevalence of hypertension and poorer therapeutic control of hypertension care have been noted in populations in the low social classes. [3][4][5] Information regarding the continued presence and type of disparity (prevalence or therapeutic control) could provide guidance for the most efficient treatment activities for reducing the disparity. For example, differences in prevalence would stress the importance of primary prevention. Differences in therapeutic blood pressure control would emphasize the need for reinforcing secondary prevention. These questions are all the more important because insufficient therapeutic control of hypertension at the population level has been shown to be persistent. 6 The causality chain between socioeconomic factors and blood pressure is complex. Hypert...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Hypertension Prevalence and Care

et al. 2002

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“…In this paper, seven (headaches, asthma or wheeze, sickness or stomach aches, fainting, aches, colds or flu and skin problems) are classified as 'physical' and four (nervousness, sadness, irritability and difficulty sleeping) as 'malaise'. (Such a distinction is necessarily somewhat arbitrary; not only might symptoms such as sleep problems result from pain or other physical disorders, but in addition those who are depressed or anxious might report more 'physical' symptoms - Macintyre et al, 1996).…”

Section: Recent Symptomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many had not sampled from an appropriate age range, while those which had tended to analyse their data separately by age or sex, but not both. The fact that this was a rather neglected area of research was surprising given that the identification of the life stage at which the adult excess in female morbidity (although probably not as clear-cut as often assumed -Macintyre, Hunt & Sweeting, 1996) emerges, might provide important clues as to its causes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in health at ages 11, 13 and 15

Sweeting

West

2003

Social Science & Medicine

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“…It has been shown that women tend to report more symptoms and have a greater number of comorbidities that are not lethal but are disabling, whereas men have more life-threatening conditions (Macintyre et al 1996;Case and Paxson 2005;Crimmins et al 2011). This pattern was found in a study on opposite-sex twins that controlled for early environmental and genetic factors.…”

Section: Sex Differences In Morbiditymentioning

confidence: 99%