Reduced costs of reproduction in females mediate a shift from a male-biased to a female-biased lifespan in humans

• DOI: 10.1038/srep24672
• Publication Date: 2016-04-18T09:24:23Z
• Authors: Elisabeth Bolund; Virpi Lummaa; Ken R. Smith; Heidi A. Hanson; Alexei A. Maklakov
• Keywords: Male; 0301 basic medicine; Reproduction; Longevity; Reproduktionsmedicin och gynekologi; Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology; Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa och socialmedicin; Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine; Article; Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi; 03 medical and health sciences; Sex Factors; Socioeconomic Factors; Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine; Utah; Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Reproductive Medicine; ta1181; Humans; Female; Gynekologi, obstetrik och reproduktionsmedicin; 10. No inequality; Demography

Abstract The causes underlying sex differences in lifespan are strongly debated. While females commonly outlive males humans, this is generally less pronounced societies before the demographic transition to low mortality and fertility rates. Life-history theory suggests that reduced reproduction should benefit female when pay higher costs of than males. Using unique longitudinal records on 140,600 reproducing individuals from Utah Population Database, we demonstrate a shift male-biased female-biased adult lifespans born versus during transition. Only women paid cost terms shortened post-reproductive at high parities. Therefore, as decreased over time, increased, while male remained largely stable, supporting differential two sexes result shifting patterns across human populations. Further, our results have important implications for forecasts populations advance understanding evolution.