More evidence women are different to men; sort of
The results of a study by the Society for the Advancement of Women's Health Research (AWHR) recently reported in the New York Times, reveals that women react differently to certain diseases and treatments. According to Dr. Denise Faustman, associate professor of medicine at Harvard School of Medicine, women appear to process proteins less effectively than men, which may be why women are three times more likely to contract an autoimmune disease. Three out of four people with autoimmune diseases -- such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus -- are women.
Women are also more susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). For instance, women are 10 times more likely to contract HIV during unprotected sex with an infected partner. Women smokers don't fare well with nicotine either - they are more likely to develop lung cancer than male smokers. And women are more likely than men to have a second heart attack within a year of a first.
For some unknown reason, women react differently to anesthesia than men do; tending to wake up from anesthesia more quickly than men ó an average of seven minutes for women, 11 minutes for men. But, some pain medications, for example opiates, are far more effective in relieving pain in women than in men.
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