Clone of FIGURE IT OUT… musculoskeletal disorders are more common in ageing women and are associated with as much disability as in men.

Mira Rahal, economist, is examining the underlying factors behind gender differences in healthy ageing: women live longer but have more disabilities than men.

She is investigating the role of chronic diseases in these differences, in particular those that are sensitive to social factors (i.e. exposure in occupational and domestic activities), opening up prospects for protection and prevention. In this context, she is looking at musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), which are among the most common disabling conditions and are more frequent among women. The higher prevalence of MSDs among women may be because they are more likely to report these disorders in less severe, and therefore at less disabling, stages. However, if the MSDs they report are of same severity levels as among men, we should further investigate the reason for this higher prevalence by identifying its potential social factors.

Mira Rahal draws on the CONSTANCES cohort and the 36,055 people aged between 50 and 69 who were in the sample at enrolment. Of these, 68% of women reported MSDs, compared with 61% of men, and the gap existed at all ages (diagnosed conditions or persistent osteoarticular pain). Comparing people who reported MSDs with those who did not, she concluded that the formers were much more likely to report being limited in their daily activities, even when differences in socio-demographic characteristics and the presence of other illnesses were taken into account. A test shows that the magnitude of this increase does not differ by gender.
MSDs, more frequently reported by women, do not appear, on average, to be less disabling than those reported by men. A longitudinal approach will allow to determine the extent to which gender difference in disability is explained by the presence of MSDs, and then to identify related factors, particularly in the life paths (family, professional, etc.) of women and men.