Health
Men hospitalized for pneumonia more likely to die than are women
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 9, 2008
Men admitted for community-acquired pneumonia receive more aggressive treatment than women but are more severely ill upon presentation and more likely to die within a year, according to a study presented at the American Thoracic Society's international conference last month in Toronto.
Researchers recruited 1,136 men and 1,047 women receiving care in 28 hospitals. Women tended to have symptoms longer before admission and were more likely to already have taken a course of antibiotics. Men had a greater number of comorbidities and were more likely to be admitted directly to the intensive care unit.
The authors adjusted their data for many factors and believe that this gender divide may be the result of immune system differences.
"It is well know that women live longer than men. We have always assumed that these differences occur because men engage in riskier behaviors and have a greater burden of chronic diseases. ... Our findings indicate this may be linked to differences in immune response," said Sachin Yende, MD, one of the authors and assistant professor in the department of critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/06/09/hlbf0609.htm.
