According to CDC, men die younger than women do – with the latter surviving males by over five years.
Here’s a more sobering reality examined by Marianne J. Lagato, MD: by the age of 85, women will outnumber men by a ratio of 2.2 to 1. This is expected to rise to 3 to 1 by the time women reach 90.
Why is this happening?
Medical experts attribute the high mortality rate in males to lack of proper health care. Men, due to cultural conditioning, don’t actively seek medical help to address their health needs. From a young age, they were taught to suck up it up and endure the pain, whereas women are very proactive when it comes to their health.
The Top 5 Health Threats
- Heart Disease
Here’s an alarming fact, one in every four men is suffering from heart disease. This generally manifests itself 10 years earlier than women, leaving men little room for prevention. Therefore, understanding the risk factors is important. The risk factors include, race, increasing age, family history, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
- Stroke
The American Stroke Association reported that stroke incidence is 1.5 times greater in men than the opposite sex. It has the same risk factors as heart disease, but people with hypertension and have history of transient ischemic attack (ministroke) are highly likely to suffer from the attack.
- Depression-Related Suicide
Here’s a sad fact, men take their lives four times the rate of women. According to CDC, suicide is the 7th cause of death in males in the U.S. for 2010, accounting 2.5% of the total recorded deaths.
The main culprit? Depression. Over 90% of people who died by suicide are suffering from clinical depression or other mental disorders. The risk factors include family history of suicide, mental disorder or substance abuse, family violence, chronic illness, incarceration, and exposure to others’ suicidal behaviors.
- Lung Cancer
Men are more prone to smoking than women by nearly five times, according to WHO. This increases their risk to lung cancer and over 13 other cancers including cancer of mouth, nose and sinus, kidney, throat, liver and stomach.
- Unintentional Injuries
Recent report from CDC showed that 29.2 million people visit emergency departments for unintentional injuries in 2010. About of 126, 438 of these stats result to death. Leading causes include drowning, motor vehicle crashes, gunshot, and work-related fatalities.