Men and women have some similar health issues, but there are enough differences to validate Women’s Health as a separate category worthy of attention. Here are some facts:
Breast Cancer – Less than 1% of all breast cancer cases develop in men, and only one in a thousand men will ever be diagnosed with breast cancer.
Heart Disease – The number one health risk for women. Certain diseases that only affect women increase the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD), the leading cause of heart attack. These include endometriosis, polycystic ovary disease, diabetes and high blood pressure that develop during pregnancy. Endometriosis has been found to raise the risk of developing CAD by 400 percent in women under age 40.
Osteoarthritis – Women tend to get this much more than men; 24 million women vs. 17 million men, that’s almost 71% more.
Stroke – Each year, about 425,000 women have a stroke—55,000 more than men. This can partly be explained by women’s longer average life span. However, women face unique stroke threats due to hormones, reproductive health, pregnancy, and childbirth.
Urinary Tract Health – Urinary tract infections (UTIs) occur more often in women than in men, at a ratio of 8:1. Urinary incontinence affects twice as many women as men due to the way the female urinary tract is structured.
Stress – According to a recent survey by the American Psychological Association, women are more likely to report having stress, and almost 50% of all women in the survey, compared to 39% of the men, reported that their stress had increased over the past 5 years. Stress also has unique effects on women like reducing their chance of becoming pregnant.
Vision Health – Women are more likely than men to suffer from eye-related diseases and conditions such as: Cataract, Glaucoma and Age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Two thirds of individuals who are blind or are going blind are women, according to the National Institute for Health. All these risks increase with age, doubling over the age of 80. Diabetes, cancer and autoimmune disease cause risks for eye health.
Lupus – 90% of the people affected are women.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – 3 to 5 times as many women are diagnosed than men.
Fibromyalgia – Of the estimated 5 million adults with fibromyalgia in the U.S., as few as 10% are men.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) – 3 out of 4 people who live with MS are women.
Celiac Disease – 60-70% of those diagnosed are women.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) – This common disorder affects up to 3.5 million people in the United States with up to 65 percent of the individuals being women.
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) – There are approximately 19 million new (STIs) in the United States affecting both men and women. Women tend to be more frequently affected and end up with more serious problems from them than men. Among the most serious STI complications are pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, infertility, and chronic pelvic pain.
Osteoporosis and Osteopenia – 68 percent of the 44 million people at risk for osteoporosis are women. That’s twice the rate of fractures in men – one in four.
Overactive Bladder (OAB) – According to the Urology Care Foundation, around 33 million Americans have OAB. They estimate that 30 percent of men and 40 percent of women in the United States experience symptoms.
Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) – Increased sports participation of female athletes has also increased the incidence of sport-related injuries. PFPS is more common in teen girls than boys, almost twice as often, because young women’s hips widen during puberty. “Chair warriors” who spend more than 4–6 hours per day suffer as much from knee pain as many runners.
Other health risks women face include:
Chronic Pelvic Pain – Chronic pelvic pain is discussed under our topic of Pelvic Pain. Click here.
Menopause – After menopause, your risk of certain medical conditions increases. When your estrogen levels decline, your risk of cardiovascular disease increases. During the first few years after menopause, you may lose bone density at a rapid rate, increasing your risk of osteoporosis. Postmenopausal women with osteoporosis are especially susceptible to fractures of their spine, hips and wrists. Many women also gain weight during the menopausal transition and after menopause because metabolism slows.
Hormones – Medications containing female hormones to replace the ones the body no longer makes after menopause used to be a standard treatment. Hormone therapy (as it’s now called) was also thought to have the long-term benefits of preventing heart disease and possibly dementia. Clinical trials exposed risks of this therapy including: heart disease, stroke, blood clots and breast cancer. Risks are dependent upon the woman and the specific medication.
Physical Therapy can help with a lot of these conditions as an integral part of your overall treatment plan. Understanding how women are different than men and keeping these factors in mind, our therapists can help you stay as physically fit as possible and help you return to your lifestyle.
Sources:
- http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/male-breast-cancer
- https://health.clevelandclinic.org/2017/02/women-men-higher-risk-heart-attack/
- https://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/features/all-about-osteoarthritis-women#1
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/heart-attack-and-stroke-men-vs-women
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3749018/
- https://www.vsp.com/women-eye-health.html
- https://essilorusa.com/newsroom/are-women-at-higher-risk-for-eye-disease
- https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/6-health-conditions-affecting-women-more-than-men_us_58dad69ee4b0f087a3041dc0
- https://www.webmd.com/fibromyalgia/features/how-fibromyalgia-affects-men#1
- https://www.everydayhealth.com/osteoporosis/osteoporosis-and-gender.aspx
- https://www.healthline.com/health/overactive-bladder/oab-vs-bph#oab
- http://kidemergencies.com/patellofemoral-pain-syndrome.html
- https://www.painscience.com/tutorials/patellofemoral-pain-syndrome.php
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/menopause/symptoms-causes/syc-20353397