Why boys die of illnesses much more than girls and what do we do about it?

azazelcrowley · 2022-05-31T15:39:34+00:00

Boys are held less than girls and so on as well. Mothers make less eye contact with male infants. Most childhood neglect cases are of boys, and so on. Blaming the immune system presupposes that the differences in the immune systems are natural and not a result of parents misandrous tendencies and neglect of their children.

At the very least it's a gap that can be thinned by addressing this.

gratis_eekhoorn · 2022-05-31T15:55:42+00:00

As a male advocate I can tie some of it to cultural reasons like:

- Boys being more likely to be neglected

- Boys being more likely to be abused

- For adolescents, boys are more likely to be in dangerous situations like victims of physical violence, child labour, fatal traffic accidents etc.

- Males of all ages have higher rates of suicide (leading cause of death for males 15-45 in some areas)

As a medical student I can explain biologic reasons with my limited knowledge:

- Females have stronger immune system this difference becomes more apparent after puberty due to effects of sexual hormones but it exists in childhood aswell another thing that supports it that women are more likely to have autoimmune diseases.

- Males are more likely to be and more severely affected by X chromosome linked genetic diseases. Because females have two X chromosomes both copies need to have mutations for a female offspring to be affected males have one so inheriting one X chromosome with mutation is enough for them to have that disease.

- Males have a higher risk for developing most neoplasms compared to females, although disparities in some cancer types like lung cancer could be explained by life habits like smoking, the reason for some other cancer types being more prevalent among males is still mostly unknown.

- Males are more likely to be affected by most congenital disorders.

- Male infants are more likely to die from SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) although the exact cause of this syndrome is unknown it's mostly linked to premature birth, neglect, young mother, drug abuse during pregnancy and anemic mother.

Bors2 · 2022-05-31T13:35:30+00:00

Hormones play a large role in this. Testosterone, and androgens in general, are immunosuppressive while estrogens tend to boost immune function. This results in males of any species being more susceptible to infectious disease than females.

We still need more research though.

Pasolini123 · 2022-05-31T14:53:28+00:00

Reading this sub is sometimes quite depressing. But very interesting at the same time. I'm sure, that if you would ask random people, which gender is more at risk of such diseases, 90% of people would say women and girls. That's also a problem. This lack of awarness. I'm sure many parents of boys would be shocked, if they knew. Most people don't know. Even I, although interested in men's issues, didn't know that. I knew some diseases are more prevalent in boys and men. It seems like MOST of them are. Terrible :(

revente · 2022-05-31T18:00:50+00:00

related to risk behaviour like teenage smoking and drinking?

Frankly, we'd probably need to see the data first, but it always suspect that's just a fallacy that boys drink more and do more drugs.

Because they seem to never adjust for weight in those studies. And frankly going to parties and raves I see much more passed out girls than boys.

Man_of_culture_112 · 2022-06-01T09:15:45+00:00

In America boys are brutalized with a blade from birth, it does not surprise me that they are far more likely to be neglected and die from diseases.

Zathail · 2022-06-01T10:06:40+00:00

is this an in total or a per 100,000 people stat

Cause of death	Males (15-19)	Females (15-19)	Ratio
Infections & parasitic	69	44	1.7
Neoplasms (cancer)	568	390	1.5
Endocrine & metabolic	77	45	1.7
Nervous system	323	157	2.1
Circulatory system	242	153	1.6
Respiratory system	149	92	1.6

External causes
Toxicomania	14	11	1.3
Accidents	2511	742	3.4
Suicide	925	272	3.4
Assault	93	33	2.8

Title	Why boys die of illnesses much more than girls and what do we do about it?
Author	griii2
Upvotes	86
Comments	21
Date	May 31, 2022 12:25 PM UTC (4 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/comments/v1p3bj/why_boys_die_of_illnesses_much_more_than_girls/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/why-boys-die-of-illnesses-much-more-than-girls-and.1117880 https://theredarchive.com/post/1117880

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