Men more reluctant than women to visit hospitals

While the Movember campaign aims to raise awareness about men’s health issues, city doctors say men are more apprehensive of visiting hospitals than women for regular checkups.

Fear about going to a doctor or for screening is high among men, says when Dr Basawantrao Malipatil, medical oncologist, Columbia Asia Hospital.

“Most men are not comfortable to go for colonoscopy (that rules out colon cancer or helps detect it’s in its early stage) and tests for prostate cancer. About 90 per cent of men do not wish to undergo these tests. Most men are okay heading for their routine health checkups but when it comes to these, they are reluctant,” he says.

Colorectal cancer is one among the top-three cancer ailments across the world and thus awareness needs to improve, he adds. The procedure of colonoscopy requires sedation which most men are not comfortable with, says Dr Malipatil.

“The discomfort associated with the test puts most people off. The alternative examination is stool examinations done for three consecutive days. Tests for prostate are blood tests which most men undergo as a part of routine health examination,” he says.

More than apprehension it is reluctance that stops men from heading to the hospital, points out Dr S G Harish, head of internal medicine, BR Life SSNMC Hospital.

“Women are more aware of health conditions and would like to handle situations realistically. Anyone who is 35 to 40 years old should have regular body checkups. Men experiencing high blood pressure often visit the hospital after complications occur,” says Dr Harish.

Recently, a man who was experiencing breathlessness came for a visit. “It’s after the ECG that we discovered he was suffering a heart attack. Such cases are easily avoidable with regular medical checkups.”

Men are 30 per cent more reluctant compared to women when heading for a medical examination, he adds. “Among our male patients, 20 to 30 percent of them could have received better and more effective treatment had they visited us earlier,” he adds.

Time constraints and tight deadlines are some of the reasons they cite for not going to hospital, he adds.

Everyone is apprehensive about visiting a hospital nowadays, says Dr S Manohar, director for internal medicine, Sakra World Hospital.

“No one wants anything to be revealed. There is a lot of stress experienced when at a hospital and people don’t want to be confounded with facts which they won’t be able to absorb. People prefer being blind to reality. There is no specific gender bias but male patients are more egoistic,” he says.

He points out that many young men take anabolic steroid and protein supplements which can lead to compromised kidney functions.

“They concentrate on getting better cosmetically and forget that it could internally compromise their health. About 30 to 40 percent of all male patients ‘feel good’ and stop medicines or do not start them at all, despite having bad lifestyles and blood pressure issues,” he adds.

“Even after coming to know that their biochemistry is worsening, it is a big task to convince them to start medicines,” says Dr Manohar.