Several surveys and research suggest that women have a lesser chance of contracting diseases, fatal or non-fatal, than men.
The Men’s Health Network (MHN) reports that men die at higher rates than women from the diseases like heart problems, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, etc. Men are often ignorant of certain symptoms that show very early in life and could have been treated or contained at once.
Studies also show that men are careless when it come to taking care of their health and monitoring their health status. Hence, they are prone to fatalities at a younger age than women. Recently, the life expectancy gap between men and women has become wide by almost five years, states Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Heart Disease
Although heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women, but MHN reports show that almost twice as many males die of conditions that affect the cardiovascular system than women. CDC survey states that out of four, one always has some kind of heart disease. it is one of the leading causes of death among men. heart disease is common among women also, but it affects men at an early age than compared to women. The average age of a person having a first heart attack is 65.8 for men and 70.4 for women. Men can contract heart diseases 10 years earlier than women. They also have a shorter time span to be careful so as to not get heart related problems.
Stroke
Stroke is the third leading reasons of death, after heart disease and all forms of cancer. The incidence rate of stroke is 1.25 times greater in men than in women.
Depression
According to studies, men are four times more likely to commit suicide compared to women, which attributes part of the blame on under diagnosed depression in men. More than 6 million men have been diagnosed with depression each year in the United States. The number of males with depression could be even greater since men may show signs of depression in a manner different from many women.
Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer found in men. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. There is not enough known about what causes prostate cancer and how to prevent it. Yet the disease is treatable if detected in early stages. This can be a challenge, since prostate cancer can show no symptoms until it has spread to other parts of the body. And the record shows that many people do not consult doctors for a check up and thus usually gets diagnosed at a later stage.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or Lung Diseases
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a term physicians use to refer to two lung diseases chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The diseases frequently exist together, and both are conditions that cause a blockage of airflow that interferes with normal breathing.
Diabetes
Diabetes can refer either to a deficiency of insulin or to the body’s decreased ability to use insulin. There are two main types of diabetes – non-insulin dependent (type-2) and insulin dependent (type-1). Non-insulin dependent diabetes, which usually appears after the age of 40, is the most common type, affecting 90 per cent to 95 per cent of those who have the disease. Almost 20 per cent of the populations having this condition are men.