Macintyre et al. [Macintyre, S., Hunt, K., Sweeting, H., 1996. Gender differences in health: are things really as simple as they seem? Social Science and Medicine 42, 617-624] stated that the "whole topic of gender differences in health warrants periodic re-examination". In this paper we begin by presenting an overview of the main sources of national data that are available for monitoring patterns and trends in health by gender. We then give examples of a selection of indicators which contribute to the debate on the nature of differences between men and women in terms of their mortality. morbidity and health service utilisation. We conclude by urging readers to make more use of these sources of data to throw further light on the reasons for the differences and similarities in women's and men's experiences of health.