Death divides the genders

HEART disease and cancers are among the key reasons why more Toowoomba men die than women and why our male residents don’t live as long as females.

Analysis of five years of death data for Toowoomba reveals 2886 men died during 2010-14 compared to 2793 women.

Males, on average, died at 78 years old while women generally reached 84.

PA Research Foundation’s Dr Sandro Porceddu said about one in three men would be diagnosed with a cancer by the time they celebrated their 75th birthday.

Dr Porceddu said with men smoking and drinking more and experiencing obesity at higher rates than women, the easiest way to reduce the life expectancy gap was as simple as changing lifestyle choices.

“Men need to get serious about managing their cancer risk because their risk is higher than women and their life expectancy is shorter,” the radiation oncologist said.

As men are less likely to go to their GP than women, the PA Research Foundation is urging employers to give their male workers an afternoon off to have their health assessed.

“The idea here is that there are risk factors that are preventable, men are more likely to be impacted by those risk factors but they are reluctant to go to their GP,” Dr Porceddu said.

“Men are generally workers who find it difficult to find time and who have the ‘she’ll be right attitude’ approach to their health.”

More info, visit www.menshealth.org.au.