Women Live Longer Than Men, Thanks to Their Stronger Hearts

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A University of South California (USC) research has found that women tend to outlive men because of the latter's susceptibility to cardiovascular diseases. The researchers note, however, that this was not always the case as this occurrence only began to happen at the turn of the 20th century. 

The findings, documented in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), revealed that women's longer life span can be attributed to changes in their diets and lifestyle factors. Meanwhile, men's earlier mortality is due to smoking and their vulnerability to cardiovascular diseases.

"We were surprised at how the divergence in mortality between men and women, which originated as early as 1870, was concentrated in the 50-to-70 age range and faded out sharply after age 80," USC Professor and study author Eileen Crimmins said via The Times of India.

The scientists from the Davis School of Gerontology at USC looked at the life spans of people born in 1800's to 1935 in 13 different nations. They found that in 1880, female death rates have decreased by 70% compared to those of males.

As for male mortality, it was found that smoking caused 30 percent of deaths of males age 50 to 70 and were born from 1900 to 1935. However, cardiovascular disease remains to be the major cause of excess deaths in adult men age 40 and above in the same time period.

According to the Independent, high mortality trend in males started in 1870 when infectious diseases became less common with vaccination and immunization prevention measures, and cancer and cardiovascular diseases became more rampant. Generally, these diseases affected more men than women, probably because women are healthier with better diets. 

In line with this, the researchers are keen to find out if heart diseases between men and women are impacted by several biological and environmental factors.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in every 4 deaths in the United States is caused by heart disease. While heart disease is a leading cause of death for both men and women, more than 50 percent of heart disease-related deaths in 2009 were in men. Heart disease is most common among whites, followed by African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and American Indians or Alaska Natives.

The three main risk factors for heart disease in Americans are high blood pressure, smoking and high LDL cholesterol. Medical conditions such as obesity, poor diet, diabetes, alcohol abuse and physical inactivity are also potential causes.