Can masculinity be a predisposing factor for heart disease? Research published in ‘JAMA Network Open’ indicates that boys and men who adopt behaviors more aligned with stereotypical gender norms in their social environment appear to be less likely to recognize that they have received a diagnosis or are receiving treatment for risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
The study from the University of Chicago (USA) has seen that sociocultural pressures to adopt the masculine gender identity are linked to behaviors that are more harmful to health, such as drug use and rejection of therapies and medical recommendations.
Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of illness and death worldwide. The curious thing is that there are more modifiable and preventable than many other diseases and causes of death.
However, it is important to note that modification and prevention depend on early detection and mitigation of risk factors such as hypertension and high cholesterol.
Unfortunately, some estimate that 75% of young adults who have risk factors such as hypertension and high cholesterol are unaware of it.
And the numbers are accentuated among men.
“Gender and male sex are known to be associated with less help-seeking for a variety of health problems, especially mental health and primary care. But previous studies had not investigated more thoroughly the social processes through which the masculine gender is created iteratively through an interaction between the individual and his environment,” says Nathaniel Glasser, lead author of the article.
In this work, he adds, “we use innovative measurement techniques to observe the construction of the male gender and how it is associated with the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.”
Glasser and colleagues analyzed data from Add Health, a nationally representative longitudinal study that collected health measurements and survey responses from more than 12,300 people at multiple points over 24 years (1994-2018).
They quantified the male gender expressiveness of Add Health participants by identifying a subset of survey questions that were answered most differently by participants who identified as men and women, and subsequently measured the extent to which male participants’ responses to those questions they coincided with those of their peers of the same gender.
Y chromosome
«When we talk about gender expression, we do not analyze anything physiological that could be affected by the Y chromosome – explains Glasser – We focus exclusively on the behaviors, preferences and beliefs that the participants themselves manifest, and on the degree to which these behaviors and attitudes “They resemble those of their peers of the same sex.”
Focusing on cardiovascular diseases, researchers compared Add Health biological measures with health-related survey responses to see whether men with detectable risk factors, such as high blood pressure, reported receiving diagnoses or treatment for those. conditions.
They found that men who displayed more stereotypical gender expression were significantly less likely to report that a health professional had ever talked to them about certain cardiovascular disease risk conditions. Even when these men reported having previously received a diagnosis, they were still less likely to report taking medications to treat these conditions.
The risk factors examined in the study are those that would normally be detected by screening tests that are part of basic primary care.
Social pressures cause behavioral differences that affect cardiovascular risk mitigation efforts
However, it is not clear whether the decline in reported diagnosis and treatment among those with higher male gender expression indicates that men do not go for screening, that they do not pay attention to their diagnoses even when they are screened, or that They simply downplay their diagnoses when asked about them.
Whatever the reason, the authors write, the findings highlight a missed opportunity to prevent or alleviate serious cardiovascular disease later in life.
“Our hypothesis is that social pressures are generating behavioral differences that affect cardiovascular risk mitigation efforts, which is concerning because it could lead to worse long-term health outcomes,” says Glasser.
Ultimately, the authors believe that the implications of this research go far beyond the issue of traditional masculinity.
«We are seeing how the pressures to transmit the identityWhether they are rooted in gender, race, sexuality, or something else, they affect health behaviors, Glasser says. Fitting in and achieving a sense of belonging is a complicated task, and we firmly believe that greater sympathy, empathy and social patience towards others undertaking that task would be good for people’s health.
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