The Men's Health Forum are running National Men's Health Week from 11th to 17th June (Fathers Day).
Details can be found here (link).
Here are some grim statistics copied from their web-site:-
- The average life expectancy of a male born in the UK in 1997 is still less than 75 years.
- Men who are defined as partly skilled or unskilled have a life expectancy of less than 70 years.
- The average man can expect to be seriously or chronically ill for 15 years of his life.
- The majority of men are too heavy for their health: 45% are medically defined as overweight and an additional 17% as obese.
- 28% of men still smoke.
- 27% of men drink alcohol at a level that could be harmful to their health.
- 41% of all male deaths under the age of 75 (almost 60,000 a year in the UK) are caused by circulatory diseases, the largest single cause of death. Of these deaths, over two-thirds (some 41,000) are due to coronary heart disease. Each year, over 130,000 men of all ages die from circulatory diseases.
- 31% of all male deaths under the age of 75 (almost 48,000 a year in the UK) are caused by cancer, the second most common cause of death. Each year, over 124,000 men of all ages are newly diagnosed with cancer and over 80,000 die.
- Prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting men alone. Nearly 22,000 men in the UK are newly diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and about 9,500 die. The number of new cases diagnosed is expected to treble over the next 20 years.
- The suicide rate among men is increasing. The rate has doubled among 15–24 year old men in the past 25 years.
- Many men are affected by sexual problems. Recent American research suggests that almost one-third of men of all ages say they climax too early and nearly one-fifth of men in their 50s experience problems achieving or maintaining an erection.
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