Where are the articles on men’s health?
The Stuff headline:
Gender bias in medicine still putting women’s health at risk
And the intro:
Mentally, physically and biologically, men and women are simply not built the same way. It sounds obvious, but we have only really begun to understand why.
These differences have not been reflected accurately in the field of medicine. Women’s health has too often been considered a niche area — even though it involves roughly 50 per cent of the world’s population.
What we do know is that being female puts us at higher risk of some of the most challenging conditions. Autoimmune diseases, for example, affect approximately 8 per cent of the global population, but 78 per cent of those affected are women.
Females are three times more likely than males to develop rheumatoid arthritis and four times more likely to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system.
This is al true and I’m all for more research into arthritis and MS.
But all we ever see are articles on female inequality, even in areas where in fact men have far worse outcomes. Overall male health outcomes are:
- Seven times more likely to commit suicide
- Six times more likely to be subject to a mental health compulsory treatment order
- Seven times more likely to be a mental health special patient
- 113% more likely to be a hazardous drinker
- 67% more likely to drink drive
- Twice as likely to be a user of hard drugs
- 10% more likely to get cancer
- 74% more likely to have coronary heart disease
- 31% more likely to have a stroke
- 270% more likely to have gout
- 11% more likely to have diabetes
- Ten times more likely to have HIV/AIDs
- Four years shorter life expectancy
- 24% more likely to be a smoker
- 11% more likely to be obese
- 28% more likely to have high blood pressure
- 33% more likely to have high cholesterol
- 46% more likely to have an intellectual disability
- 22% more likely to be hearing impaired
Would be nice to have some focus on these also.