[Asthma and allergy: what about the differences between men and women?]

Asthma and allergy: what about the differences between men and women? Allergic asthma is a chronic pulmonary disease characterized by bronchial hyper responsiveness, hyper production of mucus and remodeling of the airways. Asthma, which often begins before the age of 5, is the most common chronic disease in children and affects approximately 10% of the population in affluent societies. As it is the case for many allergic diseases, asthma affects men and women differently. In childhood, pathology is more common in boys, but this trend reverses at puberty, suggesting a regulation by sex hormones. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on how sex hormones impact allergic inflammation and particularly describe the protective actions of androgens on the development and function of key immune cell subsets involved in allergic responses.