Every article I read about this phenomenon begins by commenting on the long-known fact that men on average have a reduced lifespan compared to women (~ 4 years).

It looks like there is at least one basic physiological disadvantage of manhood, though - a mutation acquired by many men with age. 40% by age 70. (Can't help wondering what else accompanies this loss - the Y chromosome literally disintegrates then disappears, in some men, especially in their blood cells.)

FWIW it doesn't appear to be associated with reduced testosterone. Except for smoking cessation/never smoking, there's no controllable factor reducing this change. governing which males lose their Y chromosome.

Such men develop fibrosis in their hearts - what leads to their "non-ischemic" cardiovascular deaths. However, if they are identified, anti-fibrosis medicines could reduce the cardiac effect of this genetic disadvantage. Certainly worth investigating, since the present hypothesized causal connection affects almost half of men over 70 - perhaps more, over time. There are other health effects of the chromosomal loss too, though less pronounced.

Losing chromosomes is certainly news to me and I'd like to learn more about it. It seems extraordinary. Can't understand why this physiological fact hasn't been more widely publicized along with health implications.

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Research into whether women lose an X chromosome with age is (I'd say) belatedly now on-going in greater depth.

As people live longer, at least ones to whom better health care is accessible, I'd think this issue would be checked especially as there is treatment available.

Only two of numerous articles about this mutation
(scientists are referring to it as acquired mosaicism):

https://www.healthline.com/hea...s-heart-disease-risk

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/0...greater%20the%20risk.

Wondering how you see the relative advantages of men over the ages. (Factoring out of the equation, extraneous factors for either sex, like warfare, and childbirth related deaths).

IMO I've long been envious of many known socio-physical advantages of the male sex (off the cuff: men's retaining perceived attractiveness long after women's "nubility" fades - their famous "distinguished" handsomeness, men's not having to be as painfully aware of the ticking of their "biological clock" and the changes involved in menopause. (I'm aware that many women welcome ceasing their menses as loss of a nuisance, but I'm more negatively conscious of the cosmetic and health changes it brings - heart, skin, bones, metabolic down-shifting.)*

The millennia-long socio-economic-strength advantage of male chromosomal identity, has, of course, long been an issue with an immeasurable ripple effect advantaging men (feel free to add additional prefixes!).

*Both sexes lose muscle mass with age and have other age-related deterioration and disease propensities. Loss of the Y chromosome, though, is a uniquely male sex-related cause of mortality.