‘Men remain in denial about health, ignore symptoms

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru:

Men are often not attentive to their health issues due to social conditioning. Several barriers like denial and lack of awareness stop them from seeking help. Doctors shared these observations during a Thursday Men’s Health Week event in the city. NURA – a health screening centre organised the event in collaboration with Fujifilm Healthcare and Dr Kutty’s Healthcare.

In 2019, it was recorded that in 2019 the mortality rate for women was 145 per 1,000 female adults while that for men was 201 per 1,000 adult males in India. Yet, due to social conditioning, men are often not attentive to their physical well-being.

“Men generally tend to think that if they are working productively and living up to their role in society, they are fit and healthy. Due to this, they avoid taking care of their health proactively. They consult doctors less frequently than females and reach out for medical help only when symptoms turn severe, which puts them at higher risk of critical ailments,” said Dr Tausif Ahmed Thangalvadi, Medical Director, NURA.

Common health threats to men include heart attacks and strokes, diabetes, prostate cancer, lung diseases like COPD and lung cancer due to smoking, depression, and sexually transmitted infections. Dr Tausif added that men should adopt a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise and a balanced diet to live longer. Also, advised men to undergo annual health screening. These include heart health checks, lung health screening, screening for oral cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer, diabetes, blood pressure monitoring, and lipid profile.