TY - JOUR
T1 - Sex Differences in Lifespan
AU - Austad, Steven N.
AU - Fischer, Kathleen E.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to acknowledge support by U.S. NIH/NIA grants P30 AG050886 and R01 AG043972.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Published by Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2016/6/14
Y1 - 2016/6/14
N2 - Sex differences in longevity can provide insights into novel mechanisms of aging, yet they have been little studied. Surprisingly, sex-specific longevity patterns are best known in wild animals. Evolutionary hypotheses accounting for longevity patterns in natural populations include differential vulnerability to environmental hazards, differential intensity of sexual selection, and distinct patterns of parental care. Mechanistic hypotheses focus on hormones, asymmetric inheritance of sex chromosomes and mitochondria. Virtually all intensively studied species show conditional sex differences in longevity. Humans are the only species in which one sex is known to have a ubiquitous survival advantage. Paradoxically, although women live longer, they suffer greater morbidity particularly late in life. This mortality-morbidity paradox may be a consequence of greater connective tissue responsiveness to sex hormones in women. Human females' longevity advantage may result from hormonal influences on inflammatory and immunological responses, or greater resistance to oxidative damage; current support for these mechanisms is weak.
AB - Sex differences in longevity can provide insights into novel mechanisms of aging, yet they have been little studied. Surprisingly, sex-specific longevity patterns are best known in wild animals. Evolutionary hypotheses accounting for longevity patterns in natural populations include differential vulnerability to environmental hazards, differential intensity of sexual selection, and distinct patterns of parental care. Mechanistic hypotheses focus on hormones, asymmetric inheritance of sex chromosomes and mitochondria. Virtually all intensively studied species show conditional sex differences in longevity. Humans are the only species in which one sex is known to have a ubiquitous survival advantage. Paradoxically, although women live longer, they suffer greater morbidity particularly late in life. This mortality-morbidity paradox may be a consequence of greater connective tissue responsiveness to sex hormones in women. Human females' longevity advantage may result from hormonal influences on inflammatory and immunological responses, or greater resistance to oxidative damage; current support for these mechanisms is weak.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cmet.2016.05.019
DO - 10.1016/j.cmet.2016.05.019
M3 - Review article
C2 - 27304504
AN - SCOPUS:84975494455
SN - 1550-4131
VL - 23
SP - 1022
EP - 1033
JO - Cell Metabolism
JF - Cell Metabolism
IS - 6
ER -