Dataset Information

Masculinity and immune system efficacy in men.

ABSTRACT: Masculinity-related morphological traits are supposed to be honest indicators of a man's biological quality. While some studies showed that sexually dimorphic traits are related to various aspects of biological condition such as general health, immunity or fertility, still little is known about the relationship between masculine traits and the effectiveness of innate and adaptive immunity in humans. The aim of this study was to see if masculine traits, which are dependent on androgen levels in foetal and pubertal stages of development, are related to the immune quality in healthy men. The immune quality was evaluated for 91 healthy men aged 19-36 years. Immunity measurements included innate and adaptive parameters. General health status, age, testosterone level, BMI, physical activity, and smoking were controlled. The shoulder-to-hip ratio (SHR), 2D:4D digit ratio and hand-grip strength (HGS) were used as markers of masculinization. The regressions showed that when controlling for confounds, masculinity-related traits were in general not related to innate and adaptive immunity. Only a weak association was observed for right 2D:4D ratio and T-lymphocyte counts (but it becomes non-significant after adjustment for multiple comparisons). Our results do not support the premise that masculinity is a cue for immunological quality in men. However, the positive association between right 2D:4D and T lymphocytes might suggest that further studies are needed to verify if androgen stimulation in prenatal development might be related to immunity in adulthood.

SUBMITTER: Nowak-Kornicka J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7735617 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Masculinity and immune system efficacy in men.

Nowak-Kornicka Judyta J Borkowska Barbara B Pawłowski Bogusław B

PloS one 20201214 12

Masculinity-related morphological traits are supposed to be honest indicators of a man's biological quality. While some studies showed that sexually dimorphic traits are related to various aspects of biological condition such as general health, immunity or fertility, still little is known about the relationship between masculine traits and the effectiveness of innate and adaptive immunity in humans. The aim of this study was to see if masculine traits, which are dependent on androgen levels in f ...[more]

PMID: 33315964

Similar Datasets

Project description:PURPOSE:A traditional male role orientation is considered to increase the risk of depression and preventing men from disclosing symptoms of mental illness and seeking professional help. Less is known about the variance of masculinity orientations in men already treated for depression and their role in the treatment process. In this study, patterns of masculinity norms and work role orientations will be identified among men treated for depression. Associations of these patterns with depressive symptoms, stigma and delay in professional help-seeking will be investigated. METHODS:In a cross-sectional study, male role orientations (MRNS), work-related attitudes (AVEM), symptoms of mental disorders (PHQ), and attitudes related to stigma of mental illness (DSS) were assessed by standardized methods in a sample of 250 men treated for depression in general medical, psychiatric and psychotherapeutic services. Data were analyzed by means of latent profile analysis (LPA), by multinomial and linear regression models, and by path analysis. RESULTS:The results of LPA revealed three latent classes of men treated for depression. Men assigned to class one reported a less traditional male role orientation, low professional ambitions and low coping capacities; men assigned to class two reported a traditional masculinity orientation, high professional ambitions but low coping capacities; men assigned to class three reported less traditional masculinity tended orientations, medium professional ambitions and high coping capacities. Men assigned to classes one and two to have more stigmatizing attitudes, longer periods of untreated illness and more severe symptoms of mental disorders, in comparison to men assigned to class three. CONCLUSIONS:Overall, this study reveals that traditional masculinity norms and work-role orientations in men treated for depression are associated with a worse mental health status. Our study results also suggest that a slackening of traditional masculinity norms is associated with improved psychological well-being if it does not coincide with a complete distancing from professional ambitions and a lack of ability to cope with professional stress.

Project description:Men's poorer engagement with healthcare generally and HIV care specifically, compared to women, is well-described. Within the HIV public health domain, interest is growing in universal test and treat (UTT) strategies. UTT strategies refer to the expansion of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in order to reduce onward transmission and incidence of HIV in a population, through a "treatment as prevention" (TasP). This paper focuses on how masculinity influences engagement with HIV care in the context of an on-going TasP trial. Data were collected in January-November 2013 using 20 in-depth interviews, 10 of them repeated thrice, and 4 focus group discussions, each repeated four times. Analysis combined inductive and deductive approaches for coding and the review and consolidation of emerging themes. The accounts detailed men's unwillingness to engage with HIV testing and care, seemingly tied to their pursuit of valued masculinity constructs such as having strength and control, being sexually competent, and earning income. Articulated through fears regarding getting an HIV-positive diagnosis, observations that men preferred traditional medicine and that primary health centres were not welcoming to men, descriptions that men used lay measures to ascertain HIV status, and insinuations by men that they were removed from HIV risk, the indisposition to HIV care contrasted markedly with an apparent readiness to test among women. Gendered tensions thus emerged which were amplified in the context where valued masculinity representations were constantly threatened. Amid the tensions, men struggled with disclosing their HIV status, and used various strategies to avoid or postpone disclosing, or disclose indirectly, while women's ability to access care readily, use condoms, or communicate about HIV appeared similarly curtailed. UTT and TasP promotion should heed and incorporate into policy and health service delivery models the intrapersonal tensions, and the conflict, and poor and indirect communication at the micro-relational levels of couples and families.

Dataset Information

Masculinity and immune system efficacy in men.

Publications

Masculinity and immune system efficacy in men.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets