What is the UK Gender Duty and why is it linked to men's health?

Emerging from contemporary UK equality policy, the Gender Duty is not ostensibly about health, although men's health groups are keen to use it to bring about improvements in the health of men. Nevertheless, the status of men's health as an inequality is contentious and any links to equality policy should not be left unquestioned. In this article, I try to develop a critical but supportive perspective regarding the potential of equality legislation for improving men's health by describing the Gender Duty and exploring the links between equality and human rights and men's health.     

Abuse and neglect in adolescents of Jammu,India: The role of gender,family structure,and parental education

The present study aimed to assess the factor structure of the childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ; Bernstein & Fink, 1998), and use it to describe the prevalence of abuse and neglect in Indian adolescents, and its associations with gender, family structure (nuclear vs. joint), and level of parental education. Participants were 702 adolescents from Jammu in the age range of 13–17 years (41.5% female). We found acceptance for a four-factor intercorrelated model for the CTQ with emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect (5 emotional neglect and 2 physical neglect items) factors following a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Forty-one to sixty-one percent of adolescents reported maltreatment which is higher in comparison with CTQ based studies from the West. Analysis of CFA with covariates (MIMIC model) indicated that males, and adolescents of less educated mothers’ and from joint families reported higher abuse and neglect, and sexual abuse, respectively, while fathers’ education level was not associated with abuse or neglect. Implications of these findings are highlighted.     

Allelic variants in the zinc transporter-3 gene,SLC30A3, a candidate gene identified from gene expression studies,show gender-specific association with schizophrenia

Previous microarray analysis of gene expression in frontal cortex showed differential expression of genes associated with synaptic function in schizophrenia compared to matched-controls in two independent cohorts. One of these genes validated in both cohorts, SLC30A3, which encodes the Zinc Transporter 3 (ZNT3), is localised to synaptic vesicles in glutamate synapses and known to be involved in cognitive function. In view of the robust depletion of SLC30A3 mRNA in two independent studies and the importance of this gene in cognitive function, we investigated whether single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associations with schizophrenia could be detected in a UK case controlled schizophrenia cohort. Four SNPs were selected across this gene and genotyped in a cohort of cases and controls from East UK. We found significant associations with schizophrenia at the allelic (ORs: 1.51 to 1.57), genotype (ORs: 1.46 to 1.53) and haplotype level (P = 2.15 × 10⁻⁴). These associations proved to be gender-specific with significant effects of allele (ORs: 1.74 to 2.11), genotype (ORs: 1.78 to 2.14) and haplotype (P = 3.51 × 10⁻⁵) observed in female schizophrenia cases but not males, when split by gender. In conclusion, SNPs in SLC30A3 showed a gender-specific association with schizophrenia in this East UK cohort, which merits further investigation in other population samples.     

大学生性别角色与职业性别刻板印象的关系

目的探讨大学生性别角色与职业性别刻板印象的关系。方法采用贝姆性别角色量表与职业性别刻板印象问卷对某高校大学生进行了测量。结果在大学生4种性别角色类型中,双性化占33.1%、未分化占29.0%、女性化占20.4%、男性化占17.5%。大学生的男性职业性别刻板印象和女性职业性别刻板印象在性别上均存在显著差异(F=13.647,26.957;P<0.05),在不同性别角色类型上差异均不显著。结论大学生的职业性别刻板印象处于中等水平,应该弱化其职业性别刻板印象,以促使其更好地就业。     

Landscape assessment for gender neutral human papillomavirus vaccination recommendations including head and neck cancer burden data

IntroductionHead and neck cancers (HNC) accounted for over 450,000 deaths and 900,000 cases in 2018 worldwide. Of those, 38,000 cases were attributable to human papillomavirus (HPV). HNC is two to four times more prevalent in men than in women. The incidence of oropharyngeal cancers (OPC) and oral cavity cancers caused by HPV has increased in recent decades. Given the substantial burden of HPV-related HNC in males, this study aimed to assess whether and how national agencies included HPV-related HNC when evaluating HPV genderneutral vaccination (GNV) programs.MethodsA systematic literature review was conducted in MEDLINE® and EMBASE®, and on the websites of selected national agencies.ResultsSearches identified a potential 205 records; seventeen were eligible for the review. Seventy percent of assessments were published by European countries and most were recent (2014–2019). Eleven (65%) reports considered OPC when discussing HNC, and a few included other anatomic sites. All reports that considered incidence data were in consensus that incidence of OPC was higher in men and showed that the mortality rates for HPV-related HNC were also higher in men. When looking at the economic impact, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios in the assessments varied widely, as the inputs into the analyses were heterogeneous. However, several reports concluded GNV programs were likely to be cost-effective versus not vaccinating males.ConclusionThe burden of HPV-related HNC in the general male population has been recognized by several Heatlth Technology Assessment (HTA) agencies and National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) when evaluating HPV GNV programs. The assessments identified on GNV programs strongly indicate a cost-effective clinical benefit. Nevertheless, the epidemiological burden of HNC may have been underestimated in some countries due to limited data. Further research is crucial to obtain more robust data that will help address the information gap in epidemiological and economic burden of HPV-associated HNC in men.     

Gender differences in actual and preferred nocturnal sleep duration among Finnish employed population

ObjectiveSufficient sleep is essential for health and working capacity. Shorter sleep duration on workdays is often compensated by sleeping longer during leisure days. Gender dissimilarities in sleep quality are acknowledged. Our aim was to study the less known gender differences in sleep duration.MethodsA population based study with a total of 1049 middle-aged regularly working women (n = 524) and men (n = 525). A questionnaire of sleep durations on workdays and leisure days, preferred sleep duration, with health-related quality of life and health behavior.ResultsWomen slept 14 min longer on workdays (p < 0.002) and 27 min longer on leisure days (p < 0.002) and had 32 min longer preferred sleep duration (p < 0.001) than men. Compared to workdays, women slept 1 h 57 minutes longer and men 1 h 42 min longer on leisure days (gender p < 0.001). On workdays, both women and men slept less than their preferred sleep duration and again, with more extensive difference in women (gender-interaction p < 0.001). On leisure days the excessive sleep time did not differ between genders (p = 0.346). None of the explanatory variables explained the gender differences in sleep durations.ConclusionsSleep loss on workdays is presumably more pronounced in women, since despite their longer sleep on workdays, the gender differences persist in both sleep duration on leisure days and in preferred sleep duration.