Highlights
- Men and women share many of the same medical concerns, but some afflict men at an earlier age.
- Knowing the facts and the risks of the most common conditions help men make better choices and choose the right medication.
- Proper planning and careful shopping helps you find the lowest price for medications.
While men and women often have similar chronic health problems, men often experience these issues at higher rates than women and at earlier ages. Being informed about the most common long-term concerns and how they’re treated is key to a longer and healthier life for men.
Here are 10 of the most common men’s health problems along with statistics and treatments that all men should know about.
Heart Disease
Heart disease is fatal for men at higher rates and younger ages than women. Heart disease is a blanket definition that covers multiple conditions, including:
- Any blood vessel disease, such as coronary artery disease
- Arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats), such as atrial fibrillation
- Congenital heart defects
- Heart muscle disease or damage
- Heart valve disease or damage
Of these, the most common cause of heart disease for men is coronary artery disease, where plaque builds up in the arteries that supply blood to the heart. Over time, it narrows or blocks the arteries and can cause a heart attack.
Common medications for treating heart disease include:
- Anticoagulants
- Antiplatelet therapies
- Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors
- Angiotensin II receptor blockers
- Angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors
- Beta blockers
- Calcium channel blockers
- Cholesterol-lowering medications
- Digitalis-based medications
- Diuretics
- Vasodilators
Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus is a disease where the blood sugar is elevated over a long period of time. There are two types of diabetes men should be aware of:
- Type 1 diabetes. The pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin due to a lack of beta cells or other factors.
- Type 2 diabetes. The body’s cells develop resistance to insulin, and over time insulin production drops.
Of the two types, type 2 is more common; one study found that 14.6 percent of men had type 2 compared to 9.1 percent in women. Diabetes aggravates other medical conditions, like heart disease, increasing the risk of death. Currently, research is ongoing into the effects of insulin resistance and its impact on other diseases.
Supplemental insulin is the most common medication to treat diabetes, along with lifestyle changes including exercise and a carefully designed diet.
Doctors may also prescribe one or more of the following types of medication for diabetes:
- Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors
- Biguanides
- Bile acid sequestrants
- Dopamine-2 agonists
- Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors
- Meglitinides
- Sodium-glucose Cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) Inhibitors
- Sulfonylureas
- Thiazolidinediones (TZDs)
Stroke
In a stroke, blood is cut off or redirected from the brain, destroying cells. Strokes are classified either as hemorrhagic, caused by bleeding, or ischemic, caused by a lack of blood flow. Ischemic strokes are more common.
If you have signs of a stroke that fade after one to two hours, it’s usually diagnosed as a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or “mini-stroke.”
While stroke is more prevalent among women, men are more likely to have strokes earlier in life. As high blood pressure is the most prevalent risk factor for stroke of all kinds, lifestyle changes like low-sodium diets and regular exercise may be the best prevention.
Doctors may also prescribe any of the following hypertension medications:
- Diuretics
- Beta blockers
- ACE inhibitors
- Angiotensin II receptor blockers
- Calcium channel blockers
- Alpha blockers
- Alpha-2 receptor agonists
- Central agonists
- Peripheral adrenergic inhibitors
- Vasodilators
Liver Disease
Also called hepatic disease, liver disease is a blanket term for over a hundred different liver complications, most commonly:
- Hepatitis
- Alcohol-related liver disease
- Fatty liver disease
- Cirrhosis (scarring of the liver)
- Liver cancer
The most common causes of liver disease are obesity and excessive alcohol consumption, largely because we’ve made great strides in limiting the spread and finding new treatments for hepatitis. As men are more likely to drink than women and also more likely to binge drink, they are at higher risk for all forms of liver disease.
Maintaining a healthy weight and limiting alcohol consumption reduce the risk of liver disease and are key to any treatment plan. Medications may be prescribed, depending on the type of liver disease. Hepatitis, for example, is treated with antivirals.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a term for any disease that damages the lungs and makes it harder to breathe. The most common COPD diseases are emphysema and chronic bronchitis (sometimes called “smoker’s cough.”) COPD is a progressive disease, which means it becomes worse and more difficult to manage over time.
Approximately 9 percent of men have COPD compared to 6 percent of women. While COPD is the third leading cause of death worldwide, it also aggravates other health problems, particularly heart disease.
COPD is generally treated with preventative measures. It can also be managed with certain classes of medications.
They include:
- Bronchodilators
- Corticosteroids
- Phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) inhibitors
- Methylxanthines
- Mucolytics
Cancer
Cancer is the second most prevalent cause of death for men. The most common cancers in men are:
- Lung
- Prostate
- Colorectal
- Skin
Each type of cancer has different risk factors. Many are caused by lifestyle choices, but we can’t protect ourselves from all of them. For example, age is a significant risk factor for prostate cancer, although evidence is emerging that it’s more common than we realized and less likely to contribute to the cause of death.
Smoking is a well-known risk factor for cancer, but in the U.S., 20 to 30 percent of all lung cancers are diagnosed in nonsmokers, and it appears that nearly a third of those are due to secondhand smoke.
Even though you can’t control all risk factors, the lifestyle choices you make will reduce your overall risk of developing cancer.
Treatment plans depend on the type of cancer you have. In particular, immunotherapy drugs that target specific cells are showing promise for extending life span and improving quality of life. Chemotherapy and radiation are also common treatment options.
Lung and Airway Infections
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the risks of airway infections. Nearly 600,000 men died from COVID in the U.S. as of December 10th, 2022, according to the CDC, compared to 500,000 women.
COVID aside, any airway infection can potentially be fatal. The most common cause of fatality is pneumonia. Pneumonia is not a specific virus, but a condition caused by a range of microorganisms that cause the lungs to become inflamed and fill with pus or liquid. This makes it difficult for the lungs to function. That same CDC data shows over 300,000 men died of pneumonia in the same time period, with another 7,140 deaths from influenza, another common respiratory virus.
Even non-fatal infections can permanently compromise quality of life. A British study found that 20% of those hospitalized for COVID-19 reported a new disability after being discharged.
The best treatment for pneumonia is medication that prevents or limits infection, usually by killing microorganisms or limiting their ability to reproduce. The correct medication should be used; antibiotics will have no effect on fungi or viruses. Expectorants (cough medicine) and drugs that thin mucus and pus for easier removal can also be effective.
HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). People with HIV will not necessarily develop AIDS, but men are more likely than women to have HIV, with the rate of new infections in men nearly five times as high as women.
Despite the stereotypes, anyone can get HIV, and any HIV infection can develop into AIDS. People at particular risk include:
- Anyone who regularly hires sex workers of any gender
- Intravenous drug users
- Men who have sex with men
Condoms and other safer sex methods can help block infection, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is becoming increasingly common. For those who have already been exposed, there are several classes of drugs that slow the progression of AIDS and even reduce the risk of death:
- Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs)
- Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs)
- Protease inhibitors (PIs)
- Fusion inhibitors
- CCR5 antagonists
- Integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs)
- Post-attachment inhibitors
Unintentional Injuries
Men are more likely than women to die of unintentional injuries, across a number of scenarios. Men accounted for 72 percent of all traffic fatalities in 2020, a number that’s remained consistent in accident data. And between 2017 and 2021, nearly 5,000 men a year died in work-related incidents, compared to 380-440 women.
Why the disparity? There are several reasons.
- Careers. Men are more likely to choose careers, such as construction, that have a higher incidence of workplace accidents.
- Age. Younger men are at the highest risk of accidents of all kinds, believed to be due to their proclivity for taking more risks.
- Exposure. Men are more often in riskier situations for longer. For example, men historically drive more than women, and the more miles you drive, the higher your risk of a car accident.
- Firearms ownership. A Gallup poll found that twice as many men as women own firearms, which raises the chances of accidents.
Safety training and personal protective equipment (PPE) limit accidents. Follow all safety rules when working with dangerous tools, and keep your PPE on, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Depression
While depression is more commonly reported in women, up to one-third of all men will report at least one major depressive episode in their lives. While work is ongoing to determine whether depression can cause physical health problems, it’s comorbid with many of them, and it can make seeking or maintaining treatment difficult. It’s believed that unreported depression is a major driver of suicide in men — while women attempt suicide more often, men are more likely to die from it.
Because of the complexity of depression, treatment often consists of a combination of approaches.
Treatment modalities for depression can include one or more of the following:
- Talk therapy. There are several disciplines of talk therapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, where individuals learn how to manage negative feelings by engaging with them.
- Medical treatment. Treating a physical disease and improving quality of life often improves depression symptoms as well, if they’re related to the disease.
- Medication. Available for both short-term and long-term use, antidepressants can help manage severe depressive episodes and maintain mental health. They’re often paired with talk therapy as part of a long-term treatment approach.
Classes of antidepressants include:- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
- Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
- Tricyclic antidepressants
- Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)
Comorbidity and Men’s Health Issues
Most men will experience more than one major health issue as they grow older. When two or more conditions are present in the same person, they are called comorbidities. Sometimes this is coincidental, but more often, one condition helps trigger the other or makes the other worse in some way.
For example, if you have diabetes, your risk of heart disease is elevated as high blood sugar damages blood vessels and cardiovascular nerves. This is a particular concern for men as they tend to manifest these conditions at earlier ages and disease progression interferes with treatment.
While there is no “silver bullet” for preventing disease, you can lower the odds of comorbidity and the severity of comorbid diseases by:
- Exercising regularly, at least 150 minutes of light exercise a week
- Eating a diet focused on fresh vegetables, grains, and lean proteins
- Quitting smoking
- Ending or reducing alcohol and recreational drug consumption
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