Prevention and Gender Medicine: The Importance of Differentiated Approaches for Men and Women

In today’s post, we look at the topic of ‘Prevention within gender medicine’. But why prevention and gender medicine? Studies show that preventive measures are not always equally effective for men and women, because gender has an impact on lifestyle [1], [2]. The status of ‘healthy’ or ‘ill’ depends on health behaviour.

But let’s start at the beginning and ask ourselves the question: ‘What types of prevention actually exist according to SGB V, Sections 20 to 26?’ There are three different types of prevention.

The first type of prevention is primary prevention, which is aimed at tackling the causes of illnesses before they arise. Secondary prevention aims to recognise diseases as early as possible. It wants to prevent the progression of a disease through targeted treatments. The last type of prevention is tertiary prevention. This is aimed at restoring the patient’s state of health, avoiding a worsening of the disease or limiting the consequential damage of a disease that has already occurred. [3]

Biological and psychosocial factors as well as social norms and values influence behaviour and lifestyle [4]. This results in different and dynamic health needs [4]. But what do the lifestyles of women and men look like? Where are the differences? Here you can see a comparison:

General Lifestyle Factors of Women

• 80% of women regularly attend preventive check-ups
• Women are twice as likely to limit their meat consumption and eat more vegetarian food
• Women smokers have a 25% higher risk of heart attacks, COPD, lung and bladder cancer than men
• Overall, women have poorer sleep

General Lifestyle Factors of Men

• Only 18% of men go for regular check-ups
• More than half of men eat meat four times a week
• Smokers have ‘only’ a 40% greater risk of heart attack than non-smokers
• Men expose themselves to greater risks such as car accidents or accidents at work

Different lifestyles lead to different needs [4]. What problem and what consequences could this have for the field of ‘prevention’?

The problem is that individual prevention measures are often still gender-neutral [5]. There is still no differentiation between the needs of female and male patients. As a consequence, changes would have to be made in this regard. Prevention concepts would have to be adapted to gender-specific needs in order to improve the health outcomes of women and men equally. However, this requires the design of more individualised services that appeal to people and at the same time a better understanding of gender-specific differences and needs. [4], [6]

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Takeaway Points:

• Prevention and gender medicine are important because studies show that preventive measures work differently for men and women.
• There are three types of prevention: primary, secondary and tertiary prevention.
• Biological, psychosocial and social factors influence the lifestyle and health needs of women and men.
• Individual prevention measures are often gender-neutral, which can lead to unequal health outcomes.
• Prevention concepts must take gender-specific needs into account in order to improve the health of women and men equally.

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