Published: Less than 20 minutes ago
Men who lack the Y chromosome have an increased risk of heart failure and dying from cardiovascular disease, which may be one of the explanations for the men’s shorter lifespan, reports Dagens Nyheter.
A man’s life is on average just over five years shorter than a woman’s. One of the explanations is that men can get rid of their Y chromosome in some of the blood cells through a genetic change – something a Swedish research team has previously been able to show.
Now a new Swedish-American study published in the scientific journal Science shows that men with changes in the white blood cells also have an increased risk of heart failure and dying from cardiovascular disease.
– We are worse at aging. We do not cope with diseases that are associated with aging as well. Our research shows that this is partly due to the fact that many men lose their Y chromosome, says Lars Forsberg, who is a researcher and senior lecturer at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology at Uppsala University, to the newspaper.