ArticleEmerging themes in epidemiology2023
Explaining biological differences between men and women by gendered mechanisms.
Article in Emerging themes in epidemiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Association Between Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Emotional States: A Summary of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study.International journal of endocrinology and metabolism · 2026Review
- Sex and gender effects on incidence of migraine and stroke: a longitudinal observational study based on the german socio-economic panel.Biology of sex differences · 2026Observational
- Elevated homocysteine levels are associated with increased diabetes risk in patients with hypertension: a multicenter longitudinal study.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2026Article
- Anaemia, anthropometric status and associated factors among electronic waste recyclers, women and children residents of Agbogbloshie, Ghana.Discover public health · 2026Article
- A detailed examination of the worldwide impact of type 2 diabetes linked to dietary risks: insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study (1990-2021).Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Article
- Social determinants of health and biological age among diverse U.S. Adults, NHANES 2011-2018.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Unsupervised clustering of biochemical markers reveals health profiles associated with function and survival in active aging.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Burden, trends, and projections of nutritional deficiencies in China from 1990 to 2030.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Sex-Specific and Long-Term Trends of Asthma, Allergic Rhinitis, and Atopic Dermatitis in South Korea, 2007-2022: A Nationwide Representative Study.International archives of allergy and immunology · 2025Article
- Blood pressure status, quality of life, and emotional states in adults with different disease awareness and treatment adherence.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Educational inequalities in multimorbidity at older ages: a multi-generational population-based study.European journal of public health · 2024Article
- The relationship between blood vitamin A levels and diabetic retinopathy: a population-based study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The Influence of Sex and/or Gender on the Occurrence of Colorectal Cancer in the General Population in Developed Countries: A Scoping Review.International journal of public health · 2024Article
- Handgrip Strength Is Associated with Specific Aspects of Vascular Function in Individuals with Metabolic Syndrome.Biomedicines · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundThe principal aim of this study was to explore if biological differences between men and women can be explained by gendered mechanisms.
methodsWe used data from the 1958 National Child Development Study, including all the living subjects of the cohort at the outcome collection wave (44-45 years). We explored several biomarkers as outcomes: systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, HbA1c, CRP, and cortisol. Three conceptualizations of gender have been used to define methodological strategies: (a) Gender as an individual characteristic; (b) Gender as an effect of sex on socio-behavioural characteristics; (c) Gender as an interaction between sex and the social environment, here the early-life social environment. We estimated the total effect of sex and the proportion of total effect of sex at birth eliminated by gender, measured by 3 different ways according to these 3 concepts, using g-computation.
resultsThe average level of each biomarker was significantly different according to sex at birth, higher in men for cardiometabolic biomarkers and higher in women for inflammatory and neuroendocrine biomarkers. The sizes of the differences were always smaller than one standard deviation but were larger than differences due to early-life deprivation, except for CRP. We observed gender mechanisms underlying these differences between men and women, even if the mediation effects were rarely statistically significant. These mechanisms were of three kinds: (1) mediation by socio-behavioural characteristics; (2) attenuation by gendered mechanisms; (3) interaction with early social environment. Indeed, we observed that being born into a deprived rather than non-deprived family increased metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers levels more strongly in females than in males.
conclusionsThe biological differences between men and women seem to not be purely explained by biological mechanisms. The exploration of gender mechanisms opens new perspectives, in terms of methodology, understanding and potential applications.
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