title: Sex and the lung: Observations, hypotheses, and future directions.
abstract: Sex-related differences in a variety of lung diseases in infants and young children are reviewed, including respiratory distress syndrome, and chronic lung disease of prematurity, lower respiratory tract illnesses and wheezing, asthma, diffuse, and interstitial lung diseases, and cystic fibrosis. Differences in anatomy and physiology, such as airway size, airway muscle bulk, airway reactivity, airway tone, and cough reflexes may explain much of these sex differences. Better understanding of sex-related lung differences could help personalize respiratory treatment.
authors.affiliation: Section of Pulmonology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado.
authors.forename: Deborah R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Liptzin
authors.affiliation: School of Pediatrics and Child Health, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia.
authors.forename: Louis I
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Landau
authors.affiliation: Section of Pulmonology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado.|Office of the Provost, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado.
authors.forename: Lynn M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Taussig
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008168:Lung / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: females; gender; male-female ratio of lung diseases; males; respiratory illness; sex