One Canadian researcher was “tired of being accused of overreacting” and said that “man flu” is real

It appears that men are more susceptible to complications in comparison with women and their immune system might even be naturally weaker. Even more, men are prone to many respiratory diseases.

The term “man flu” is used to describe men who tend to overreact and exaggerate their symptoms during sickness from a cold or other minor illness.

Dr. Kyle Sue, author of the study said that “It’s a frequently heard stereotype.”

As soon as he was asked to give a 2-minute presentation to a group of people with various backgrounds, he realized that this could be a good opportunity to give men something that they could further use to defend themselves.

The first step Sue took was a simple research to see whether men experience worse symptoms than women. He even went further and suspected that this gender difference might have an evolutionary basis.

He discovered plenty of evidence that is “suggestive of an immunity gap,” though it’s “certainly not definitive,” he said.

First of all, he said that women respond differently to vaccines that protect against the flu.

“There are a couple of studies that show women having more local and systemic reactions to the flu shot than men,” he said. He added the evidence suggests that, overall, women may be “more responsive to vaccinations than men.”

“Epidemiologic data from Hong Kong showed that adult men had a higher risk of hospital admission for flu,” Sue said. An American study revealed that men died more often from flu compared with same-age women, regardless of underlying heart disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and kidney diseases.

“However, neither study differentiated men and women based on other differences, like smoking and drinking rates (and) willingness to seek medical help,” he said, and these unknowns might have influenced the results.

Source: cnn.com