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31 T M C » P U L S E | J U N E 2 0 1 8 The Mortality Gap Women still outlive men, but that divide may be shrinking A lthough people around the world are living longer overall, men are still dying before women—regardless of race, environment and socioeconomic status. Women live an average of five years longer than men in the United States. In 2016, life expectancy at birth was 78.6 years for the total U.S. population, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. For males, life expectancy shifted from 76.3 years in 2015 to 76.1 years in 2016—a slight decrease. For females, life expectancy remained the same at 81.1 years in 2016. Researchers and doctors from the Texas Medical Center (TMC) advise that there is no one reason for this gender divide, but rather multiple factors that give men a shorter life expectancy. "The main thing I would focus on is testos- terone versus estrogen," said Carmel Dyer, M.D., executive director of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Consortium on Aging. "Testosterone lowers your good cho- lesterol and raises your bad cholesterol, where estrogen does just the opposite." Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in both men and women, Dyer continued, and both cholesterol and cardiovascular disease can be mediated, in part, by sex hormones. But testosterone also unleashes other challenges. "A very prominent cancer in men is prostate cancer—that is mediated by testosterone," Dyer said. "In fact, men who are hypogonadal, who have low levels of testosterone, when they take testos- terone, it increases their risk for prostate cancer." Testosterone has also been linked to an increased risk in stroke because it makes blood thicker. Dyer explained that men are more prone to infection than women because estrogen has an antioxidant effect that absorbs the toxic free radicals that can lead to cell damage. "Testosterone puts you at risk for infections, cancer and accidents," Dyer said. "For instance, men are more adventurous. … They have more drowning deaths, they take more chances, they have more hazardous jobs than women—climbing on skyscrapers and all of that." (continued) B y B r i t n i R . M c A s h a n We encourage boys to be rough and tumble and adventurous and unafraid, probably disproportionately to females. — BRIAN DUNCAN Director of human performance at Memorial Hermann Ironman Sports Medicine Institute 7515 Main St #120, Houston, TX 77030 877-992-2848 www.acu4u.com ACUPUNCTURE & CHINESE MEDICINE