Fed: Men fooling themselves over health

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Fed: Men fooling themselves over health

BRISBANE, FEb 18 AAP - Men who only go to the doctor when sick are missing out on healthchecks which could save their life, a health insurance company said today.

MBF commissioned a market research company to find out how often men visit their generalpractitioner for regular check-ups.

When viewed in conjunction with Medicare data, the results show that men are foolingthemselves about their health, MBF chief medical officer Dr Gavin Frost said.

Despite high rates of heart disease among middle-aged men, fewer than one-third visita doctor for regular check-ups, the study found.

Almost one-third of men aged 35 to 49 years had not had their blood pressure checkedin the past year, Dr Frost said.

Eighty per cent of men in this "health-critical" age group only visited the doctorwhen they were sick, he said.

"If men could be as smart as women and go for regular check-ups they'd be fine," Dr Frost said.

"Most women know about Pap smears and mammograms but men don't have any similar triggersfor going to the doctor."

Concern about heart disease rather than cancer should prompt men to go for check-upsbecause it was the most common cause of death, he said.

The risk factors - being overweight, having high blood pressure, smoking and not gettingenough exercise - were all modifiable.

Dr Frost said more men die prematurely than women at almost every age group, he said.

"You can't wait until you have a stroke to have your blood pressure measured," he said.

"You are not going to know that your blood pressure is up unless it's measured becausethere are no symptoms of high blood pressure."

Dr Frost said the research also found that more than half of men surveyed had neverbeen checked for signs of skin cancer.

A report by NSW Health recently warned that the trend for middle-aged men to delayseeking medical help could partially explain their high death rate he said.

Dr Frost said cultural change was needed to get men to the doctor more often for checks,and also to reduce risk-taking which led to injury.

Queensland Ambulance Service statistics showed that twice as many men as women wereinvolved in accidents or injuries.

Men aged 15 to 29 years account for more than half the hospital emergency incidentsinvolving males.

AAP rr/sc/sjk

KEYWORD: SICK