Hormones give women a survival advantage: study

It seems that being female is an advantage when it comes to recovering from traumatic injuries, according to a study released Tuesday by a researcher at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“Female sex hormones appear to give women better resiliency to extreme injury, while male sex hormones seem to worsen their survival after severe trauma” says Adil H. Haider, assistant professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins. The study shows that those hormones mean severely injured women have a 14 per cent higher chance of surviving than men with similar injuries.

“And if we can come up with ways to manipulate those hormones in men, for example by temporarily blocking sex hormones, we may be able to improve their survival.”

The data was collected from 48,000 patients brought into hundreds of emergency rooms across the U.S. between 2001 and 2005, all with severe injuries and suffering from low blood pressure related to blood loss. The ones with the highest estrogen levels had the best chance of survival, regardless of race or socio-economic status.

Haider says that after severe trauma, sex hormones serve specialized roles in regulating metabolic, cardiovascular and immune reactions.

Male readers, please take a deep breath.

The study was started after the remarkable recovery of a male gunshot victim who had multiple wounds in the chest and testicles, which were almost completely destroyed.

Doctors questioned the link between his total lack of testosterone and return to reasonably good health.

The long-suffering white mouse backed up the theory, after scientists castrated a group of them and subjected the (hopefully heavily sedated) mice to trauma to gather results.

So in the future, men who are being treated for trauma may be given androgen blocking drugs.

(If it comes to that no one needs to panic, or resist treatment. The drugs are the same used for prostate cancer for men and won't have permanent effects, notes Haider.)

Comments

[deb]

I always knew women were the stronger sex

[Lindsay]

When you consider we were built to squeaze out a 10 pound bowling ball - er - baby, it's really no surprise that women are the stronger sex. We have to be.

[joe]

go benchpress 200 lb

[JC]

This is an epidemiological study - which means the the results were based on observations of large populations. It is postulated that the estrogen link is the cause of the higher survival rate - but not conclusive as there may be other factors.

[Regreg]

There's more info on it here:
http://www.pri.org/theworld/?q=node/12280

"Every month they [women] lose blood, and as a consequence of that, the body is conditioned to tolerate blood loss far, far better than males."
"What gives women this physiological advantage? The answer is estrogen. The female hormone helps restore blood volume, and keeps blood pressure high."

Makes sense to me! And I don't think it's shockingly brand new discovery.

[april rain]

women never die! there are so many of them, it's annoying a sign the world is coming to an end.

[AM]

Ok, so for the next World War we send all the women of fighting age to go fight while us men stay home and relax. Only seems fare now that this study has been dome.

[AM]

Done, I mean.

[Ron Burgundy]

"i dont trust anything that bleeds for 7 days and doesn't die"

quote from the movie South Park.

[Odessa]

@Joe, they are talking about injury recoveries not an individuals weightlifting ability. We do know its a proven fact that men have greater muscle mass and can therefore lift more and build more muscle.

[James Millar]

The little bit of "humor" about the mouse tests makes me sick. Of course the mice are not sedated or anything.. unless it's to make the job easier. Animal testing is disgusting, not least because the vast majority is useless, just done to justify the continuation of grants, etc.

[Tracy]

@James, exactly. That line made me sick to my stomach. This common sense "insight" was not worth animal cruelty.

[Dolly]

This proves why men act like big babies when they come down sick with something!