Help him to live well
The health risks affecting men
Some men appear to pay better attention to their car’s health than their own. They take it for a regular service, but don’t think to book a routine check-up for themselves. And when it comes to bodywork, their car may get washed and waxed to highlight its curves, but men fail to maintain their own fitness, with at least 68% letting themselves become overweight or obese (compared with 58% of women).
In a typical GP surgery, female patients outnumber males by four to one – apart from Saturday clinics when numbers are more equal. One panel of UK healthcare experts concluded the reason men hate seeing their doctor is because they dislike asking for help.
Risks for older men
Many health problems become more common after retirement age, and any persistent symptoms should be checked.
In males, for example, bowel cancer is the third most common cancer, and one in 14 men will be diagnosed with bowel cancer at some time in their life. The incidence increases dramatically over the age of 45 in men, and peaks between the ages of 65 to 80 years.
Encourage older men in your life to accept routine bowel cancer screening, which is available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for people over the age of 60 (50 in Scotland).
Coronary heart disease, due to furring up of the coronary arteries which supply blood to heart muscles, affects 2.3m people in the UK, with over 60% of them being male. As a result, one in seven men will die from a heart attack compared to one in 12 women. While chest pain will be taken seriously, it’s also important not to ignore fatigue, shortness of breath, persistent cough, swollen ankles, feeling faint or palpitations.
This year, International Men’s Health Week falls on 11-17 June, with Father’s Day also on 17 June, so it’s a good time to focus on the men in your life.
Mid-life screenings
Health screening becomes increasingly important from middle age onwards, as conditions such as high blood pressure, raised cholesterol and diabetes become more common with age. For example, high blood pressure affects 31% of adult males in the UK (compared with 26% of women), and that’s just the ones that are known about. For every 10 men with high blood pressure, a further seven remain undiagnosed and untreated. As high blood pressure causes few, if any symptoms, it is easy to miss, so men who avoid regular health checks are more likely to develop coronary heart disease or have a stroke as a result of having uncontrolled hypertension.
Prostate issues
The male prostate gland grows after the age of 45. As it encircles the urethra at the base of the bladder, it can interfere with urinary flow. The typical symptoms of an enlarging prostate include:
Difficulty when starting to pass water An inconsistent urinary stream Discomfort when passing water Having to rush to the toilet
Urinary incontinence Unable to empty the bladder fully Passing water more often than normal If you notice a man in your life regularly visiting the bathroom during the night, encourage him to seek medical advice. It’s important to rule out prostate cancer, which can produce similar symptoms.
Young men’s health
Testicular cancer is the most common malignancy in young men aged 20-40, with the peak age for diagnosis being 30-34. The number of men affected has increased by 10% over the last decade, and continues to rise. Encourage any men in your life, of any age, to examine their testicles regularly, checking for irregularity, hardness, lumps or tenderness.
It’s also important to stay alert for signs of depression, as young males in despair are unlikely to seek help, putting them at increased risk of suicide, which is the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK. Seek advice from CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably, which is dedicated to preventing male suicide by challenging the culture that prevents men seeking help. Its national helpline (5pm to midnight) is 0800 585858; thecalmzone.net.
Talk to your teenager
Experimentation is a key feature of this life stage, and it’s important to have a frank and honest discussion with teenagers about the health dangers associated with smoking, binge drinking and drugs, especially if they’re leaving home and going to university.
The HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine helps to protect against the viruses that cause genital warts and certain cancers. In the UK, the HPV vaccination is currently offered to girls in year 8 at school, as it protects against cervical cancer. But some strains of HPV are associated with an increased risk of developing cancers of the anus, penis, mouth, throat and neck and prostate. For this reason, HPV vaccination programs are now starting to include males in some countries. The HPV vaccine is licensed in the UK for use with both males and females, and some parents are opting to have their teenage sons vaccinated privately, too. HPV is mainly passed through sexual contact and teenagers should have the HPV vaccine before starting sexual activity.