Page 136 - Urological Health

And no matter where you look in the world, women generally live longer. This begs the question, why?

Why do women live longer?
And what are men doing wrong?

The good news is that men’s health is being talked about more openly. It’s become an important issue
to everyone - not just men. And for good reason. Men are dying. Young. Younger than women. And
the sad thing is – men could prevent their premature deaths had they taken a more active role in their
health in their early adult years and as they age.

The first step? Admit you’re at risk.

What is men’s health?

Men don’t like to talk about it. That’s a fact. But men’s health issues — while often overlapping with
women’s concerns — have unique aspects that men must understand. So let’s define it. Let’s give
ourselves a working definition we can own. Borrowing from the Australian Men’s Health Network we
can define men’s health as:
UNDER REVIEW
“Conditions or diseases that are unique to men, that are more prevalent in men, that are more
serious among men, for which the risk factors are different for men, or for which different
interventions are required for men.”
So what conditions or diseases are unique to men? Three readily come to mind: prostate cancer,
testicular cancer and erectile dysfunction. Are there others? What conditions are more prevalent and
serious in men than women? Let’s look at the numbers – see Table 1.

Table 1. Leading causes of death in men and women, 2008

Men Women
Ages 15 – 24

Unintentional injuries 675 235
Suicide 344 119
Homicide 141 20
Cancer 91 69
Diseases of the heart 44 9
Congenital abnormalities 21 21
Cerebrovascular diseases 7 7

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