United States: A new research study reveals that men experience higher mortality risks compared to women for high blood pressure, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS while ignoring medical treatment for these health conditions, as reported by HealthDay.
New Research Highlights
Research published May 1 in PLOS Medicine showed that men and women have equal probabilities of developing hypertension or diabetes, although these diseases appear more often in males.
Researchers state that the results reveal the urgent need to strengthen promotional efforts that engage men in preventive medical care activities.
Ignoring Treatment Comes at a Cost
Medicine must accept sex-based differences in healthcare delivery to create guidelines and treatments that align with practical medical needs, according to Angela Chang, who leads the research at the University of Southern Denmark as an associate professor of public health.
“The evidence is clear: sex differences persist at nearly every point along the health pathway, from higher smoking rates in men to higher obesity prevalence in women, yet interventions rarely reflect this,” Chang said in a news release.
The researchers extracted information from numerous global healthcare databases to observe gender differences during each phase of the “health pathway.”
Men are more likely than women to die from high blood pressure, #diabetes and HIV/AIDS, after shrugging off medical care for the conditions, a new study says. #healthcare #publichealth https://t.co/IevYqULB3k
— HealthDay News (@HealthDayTweets) May 2, 2025
Scientists identified this pathway by starting with a health risk factor, which leads to medical diagnosis and treatment until it results in death. A condition without proper treatment will frequently result in death.
Doctors provided dissimilar treatments to men and women for managing high blood pressure and managing diabetes and HIV/AIDS in various countries throughout the study.
This research established that various risk factors for identical medical conditions differ between sexes.
Risk Factors Differ by Gender
High blood pressure risk due to smoking is best exemplified by men’s significantly higher rate of cigarette usage in 86% of evaluated nations.
The researchers discovered that women experience elevated obesity rates relative to men within 65% of the nations examined, as reported by HealthDay.
Toward Health Equity
“Such data can reveal where the health journeys of men and women diverge, be it in relation to the risk factors they are exposed to, their health care seeking behaviors or their experiences in health care systems,” researcher Sarah Hawkes, co-CEO of Global Health 50/50 in Cambridge, U.K., said in a news release.
“That is an important first step towards health equity,” she continued. “Most of these differences are not explained by sex (biology) alone, but by socially-constructed gender – highlighting the importance of taking a gender justice approach to reducing health inequities. A gender analysis can help to shape systems of health for all.”