Desigualdades de género y diabetes mellitus tipo 2: La importancia de la diferencia

Resumo

Background Type 2 Diabetes mellitus (T2DM) affects men and women differently, and it needs to be determined whether these differences are due to expression of disparate sex-linked risks and/or related to gender inequalities. The aim of this paper is to summarise the studies presenting gender inequalities regarding the prevalence, incidence, complications and mortality in T2DM. Material and methods We conducted a systematic review in the National Library of Medicine's PubMed database and Elsevier database. The search was refined to those diabetes articles that were published between January 1999 and December 2009 in English or Spanish. We included those articles that had among their objectives to discuss three main themes: «prevalence and incidence», «control and complications» and «mortality». Results Of the 22 articles, 6 found significant differences in prevalence, 8 in the control and the complications, and 8 with respect to mortality. Most of the articles did not differentiate between the effects attributable to biological factors linked to the sex and those attributable to gender-related factors. Conclusions Although there are different health outcomes between men and women with T2DM, gender inequalities are not sufficiently explained in the articles in which there are significant sex differences. To understand the causes of these differences, indicators that incorporate gender perspectives should be included in studies.