A study proves that women are 2 times more likely to develop asthma than men. It turns out that the difference is provoked by purely gender characteristics and comes from the specific protective effect of the male sex hormone testosterone. Testosterone has a very characteristic effect on the immune system and its components. It has been found to suppress the action of specific lymph cells that secrete cytokines. These cytokines provoke inflammatory reactions and hypersecretion of the nasal mucosa, leading to the breathing problems typical of an asthma attack. By suppressing these cells, testosterone has a lasting preventive effect against the development of asthma. The data was collected after a study by a team from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, USA. At the beginning of the study, scientists associated the more frequent cases of asthma in women with a predisposing influence of female sex hormones on the development of the disease. It has been suggested that estrogen aggravates the course of inflammatory reactions and leads to an easier triggering of an asthma attack. As the study progressed, however, it became clear that the rarer cases of asthma in the stronger sex were not due to men’s lower estrogen concentrations, but to their higher testosterone levels. NEWS_MORE_BOX The discovery initially surprised scientists, but a deeper analysis of the statistics on the prevalence of asthma in both sexes confirms the data obtained. Statistics show that in pre-pubescent age boys with asthma are 1.5 times more than girls. The sharp turn in asthma prevalence comes after puberty. In this particular age group, the number of sick women is 2 times greater than that of men. The main reason for these fundamental differences is precisely the difference in testosterone levels. Before puberty, they are low even in boys, but after puberty they rise sharply, and this is precisely what leads to the rarer occurrences of asthma in mature men than in mature women. To confirm this dependence, scientists point to another fact. Cases of asthma among women are rarest at menopausal age. This phenomenon is explained by hormonal changes at this age. During menopause, estrogen secretion permanently weakens and the role of even low levels of testosterone in a woman’s body increases. Thus, in the period of menopause, women already have the same natural defense mechanisms against asthma that men have in adulthood.