From sex differences to sex inequalities in life expectancy: A cross-country observational benchmarking analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The answer to whether females or males have better health, and which sex is the more disadvantaged, has depended in part on the metric and how the inequality is measured. This study introduces a new method for analyzing and interpreting sex inequalities in health outcomes-defined as the avoidable sex differences in health outcomes-that is systematic and potentially more objective. For this paper, we focus on life expectancy at different ages.

Methods and findings

We introduce the adjusted sex ratio as a measure of sex inequalities and determining sex disadvantage. First, we calculated the sex ratio of life expectancy at ages 0, 5, 15, 35, 50, and 70. To understand what is achievable under favorable conditions, we identified countries in the 5th percentile of the h

SUBMITTER: Chang AY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12697978 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature