Sex differences in medicine

A sex-specific illness is an illness which tends to occur more frequently in individuals of a particular sex.

Sex-specific illnesses generally fall into one of three categories:

• sex-linked genetic illnesses
• diseases of parts of the reproductive system that are specific to that sex
• diseases with social causes that relate to the gender role expected of that sex in a particular society. In these cases, the signs may not be sex-specific, but the diagnosis may be.

Example of sex-specific illnesses in humans:

Men:

• prostate cancer and other diseases of the male reproductive system only occur in men
• certain genetic diseases, such as colour blindness, occur more frequently in men. They are caused by sex-linked, recessive genes carried on the non-homologous portion of the X chromosome.

Women:

• ovarian cancer and other diseases of the female reproductive system only occur in women