Female patients may face disparities in how they experience Lyme disease compared with male patients, according to a report from LymeDisease.org. In a study published by Johnson et al in the International Journal of General Medicine, investigators examined the data from 2,170 Lyme disease cases, and discovered that female patients were more likely to have longer diagnostic delays, receive a misdiagnosis or diagnosis at a later disease stage, develop more severe symptoms or coinfections, and experience functional impairment than male patients. The investigators suggested that these disparities in disease burden may be the result of either biological factors or health-care inequities related to gender discrimination. Some researchers have proposed that female patients may produce a greater number of inflammatory and inhibitory cytokines after developing Lyme disease, whereas others stressed that female patients are more often told their symptoms are psychosomatic, which can lead to delayed treatment, and—consequently—more persistent Lyme disease.
July 11, 2023