title: Literature review of gender differences in respiratory conditions: a focus on asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gender differences are evident in many common health conditions, especially respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The aim of this review was to identify published studies describing gender differences in asthma and COPD, in particular regarding pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment, with a focus on Italian data.
  
  
  METHODS
  a literature review was performed from April to November 2015, using the PubMed scientific database and the following ??eywords: "gender differences" and "asthma" for the asthma review and "gender differences" and "COPD" for the COPD review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Gender differences in asthma are related to age groups. In the female population, asthma is generally more severe and disabling, and presents higher mortality rates with respect to same-age males. COPD prevalence is growing and is underestimated in women, because it tends to be diagnosed with difficulty and at a delayed stage. The same findings were observed when restricting the review to Italian data.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinicians should collaborate to develop a more gender-oriented approach towards diagnosis and treatment of asthma and COPD. In Italy, this would also facilitate measures to improve compliance, particularly among women.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Institute, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cadeddu
authors.affiliation: Public Health Institute, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Capizzi
authors.affiliation: Value&Access Manager, Novartis Italy.
authors.forename: Delia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Colombo
authors.affiliation: Value&Access Head, Novartis Italy.
authors.forename: Mihaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nica
authors.affiliation: Public Health Institute, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio Giulio
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: De Belvis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult