[Sex differences in biologic aging. Results of an experimental study]

The authors report on first experimentally verified findings concerning the sex-specific ageing dynamism of man. The study is based on reference values of biological age which could be gathered by employing a clinical complex technique. This technique is conspicuous for its high precision; the reference-value quality of the model curves likewise satisfying all test theoretical criteria. The reference values of biological age characterize the dynamism of ageing within a randomized population group, i.e. 197 male and 168 female citizens aged between 18 and 75 years who were living in urban Leipzig and mainly employed in the working process. Remarkably enough, there hardly appear to be any differences between the two sexes as far as the rate of ageing is concerned. This causes the authors to emphasize the great importance of sex-differentiated morbidity for an increased mortality among men in the industrialized countries. A genetically predetermined higher rate of ageing among men and a resulting lower life expectancy exclusively contingent on it does not seem to exist. These experimentally obtained results correspond in tendency to epidemiological data.