💡What To Know:
- Having gynecomastia increases the risk of early death for men by 37%
- Enlarged breast tissue is usually the result of a hormonal imbalance
- Men with pre-existing health conditions are at an even greater risk
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Men with enlarged breast tissue, which people often call “moobs” or “man boobs,” face a higher risk of premature death before the age of 75, a new study warns. This condition, medically known as gynecomastia, typically results from a hormonal imbalance and affects between one-third to two-thirds of men, varying with age.
The development of gynecomastia occurs in three distinct life stages, corresponding to hormonal changes: during the neonatal period, puberty, and in later years. It’s important to note that this condition differs from pseudo gynecomastia, which is the result of being overweight or obese.
According to the study, men with gynecomastia have a 37-percent increased risk of early death from any cause compared to those without the condition. The risk is particularly high in men with a known pre-existing condition, where the odds are 75 percent higher than in cases of gynecomastia of unknown origin. The greatest risks are associated with pre-existing cancers, as well as circulatory, lung, and gut diseases. Interestingly, neurological diseases were linked to a 29-percent lower risk.
“Males diagnosed with gynecomastia are at higher risk of death, observed mainly in males with a known pre-existing risk factor of gynecomastia,” says Dr. Anders Juul from the University of Copenhagen, in a media release. “These findings will hopefully stimulate more awareness among healthcare providers to potentially apply interventions that aid in alleviating underlying risk factors in males with this condition.”
The research team based their findings on data from Danish national health and population registries. They identified 23,429 men diagnosed with gynecomastia between Jan. 1, 1995 and June 30, 2021. These men were categorized into two groups: those with idiopathic (unknown cause) gynecomastia and those with a known pre-existing condition. All participants were monitored from the date of study entry until death or the end of June 2021, whichever occurred first. During this period, 12,676 men passed away.
Men with idiopathic gynecomastia did not generally face a greater risk of early death than those in the reference group, except for a specific doubled risk of death from liver disease.
“Males diagnosed with gynecomastia are at a 37 percent higher risk of death, observed mainly in males with a known pre-existing gynecomastia risk factor and not in males with idiopathic gynecomastia. These results should therefore prompt thorough clinical examination to identify the underlying risk factors,” Dr. Juul concludes.
The study is published in BMJ Open.
South West News Service writer Isobel Williams contributed to this report.
Most gyno is caused by marijuana use. THC causes the body to produce excess estrogen…which causes the condition. More and more young people are developing the problem. Stop the dope, and stop the progress. And…visit an endocrinologist to get things back on track.
Utterly not true, as they’ve been around long before anyone was using marijuana!
+100!!
I have man boobs but I am thin. Sometimes I tape them down when wearing a tight tee shirt. I have thought about surgery but have put it off. This is a very interesting study.
Look into compression shirts, I am in the same boat as you and it is a life changer.
Just do the surgery. Don’t even think about it. It will change your life.
I got it done at 31 and i wish i could kick myself in the ass for not doing it sooner. So much time wasted feeling like absolute trash.
Does that mean trans men are at risk?
Being healthy and doing exercises improperly can give men “moobies”. It is the result of doing pushups from the front too much. This causes the Pecs to stack up.
To make them look like a normal man’s chest, one must do Seated Push-Ups.
Do ten Seated Pushups a day and the results will be great!
As for those who are unhealthy, exercise! Seek a nutritionist and go work out. Study the muscles after work out.
You are literally a moron. Never post again.
Not necessarily. I’ve been exercising, different techniques throughout my life, it has absolutely no effect on gynecomastia.
No, it *doesn’t* “raise risk.” It is correlated with higher rates of earlier death. Very different. In other words, it is a symptom, not a cause.
Yeah. I wonder how much of it has to do with depression. Before i got the surgery i did not care about my health because i knew no matter what i did i would still look like crap.
Well whats all this about man boobs not being good when everyone knows that since men can get with child he is bound to get boobs right. You just can not have it both ways
This can also be major symptom of Myotonic syndrome.
In many instances, medical studies confuse cause and effect with correlations. One, maybe the chief cause of “man boobs” is sleep apnea. This condition affects the endocrine system, the brain,, causes diabetes, hypertension and a number of other problems. Sleep apnea is treatable, but few doctors even suspect that children have this condition, and when they are finally treated as adults, the damage is done.
Men with prostate cancer and that are on hormonal therapy also get “moobs”.
Oh great! Just when I was enjoying mine.
Some prescription drugs such as spironolactone can do this also, once stopped things go back to normal.