Dupuytren's and "male" genetics |
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08/19/2008 17:05
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08/19/2008 17:05
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Dupuytren's and "male" genetics
If a woman gets Dupuytren's, does it mean she has too many "male" genetics?
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08/19/2008 17:53
Wolfgangnot registered
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08/19/2008 17:53
Wolfgangnot registered
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Re: Dupuytren's and "male" genetics
Dupuytren's is not a "male" disease. Men just - on an average - develop it earlier. Why that is so, nobody knows. Maybe it is because men typically have to carry the heavy stuff ... In any case, there might be a Dupuytren's gene but I don't think it is related to male or female genes in general, if it exists at all.
Wolfgang
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08/20/2008 00:36
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08/20/2008 00:36
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Re: Dupuytren's and "male" genetics
Thank you, Wolfgang. That makes me feel better. I was also diagnosed with Sleep Apnea, and the only people in my family who have Apnea are males (my father, three brothers, my son, a nephew); and I'd read that 75% of Dupuytren's patients are male and 25% are women. I was beginning to worry that maybe I had too many male genes. But I know for sure that I am heterosexual when it comes to men. 
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08/20/2008 05:22
Wolfgangnot registered
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08/20/2008 05:22
Wolfgangnot registered
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percentage "male"
The 75 % male and 25 % female ration is actually nearly arbitrary. The truth is rather that male - on an average - get Dupuytren's about 15 years earlier. See e.g. the first picture on http://www.dupuytren-online.info/dupuytr...stribution.html . Depending at what age you measure, the ratio varies between 10:1 and 1:1. Doctors typically just count who they see in their clinic, and because men start earlier they develop stronger symptoms earlier and appear more frequently in clinics. The reason why men get this disease earlier is still unclear.
Wolfgang
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