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Men Advised to Step Up for a CheckupMen need to step up. Traditionally, they neglect their health and it comes at a cost: a shorter lifespan.1 Key social factors2 play a role, including perceptions around masculinity and seeking help, but it is important for men to regularly visit a doctor's office as appropriate. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190626005784/en/ Infographic courtesy of AmeriHealth Caritas. "In my 30 years of practice in family medicine and emergency medicine, I saw that men often took better care of their cars than their own bodies. And that often led to trouble," says Gaspere Geraci, MD, market chief medical officer at AmeriHealth Caritas, a national leader in Medicaid managed care and other health care solutions for those most in need. "Often it's the spouses, significant others, and loved ones who ultimately persuade men to see a health care professional but men need to take responsibility for their own health." Preventive care is key to avoiding health problems down the road:
Men's health is an even greater concern in the African-American community due to racial disparities, according to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.2 African-American men have a higher prevalence of obesity and hypertension.2 Black men with cardiovascular disease die prematurely almost twice as often as white men.2 Their incidence of stroke is 80 percent higher than for white men, and they get cancer more than white men.2 Geraci says that health care inequities and costs take a high toll on black men's health. If black men are unable to afford or eat healthier foods, have higher stress levels, use tobacco, and are sedentary, their health is going to suffer more than white men." According to the National Institutes of Health,6 men ages 40-64 should undertake the following health screenings to help avoid problems in the future:
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1National Center for Biotechnology Information."Social Determinants of Men's Health Disparities." Accessed May 7, 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4876596/ 2American Journal of Preventive Medicine. "African American Men's Health: Research, Practice and Policy." Accessed May 7, 2019. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-10-african-american-men-health-disparities.html 3NIH. "Men's Health." Accessed May 9, 2019. https://medlineplus.gov/menshealth.html 4NIH. "During Men's Health Week, NHLBI scientists available to discuss research on men's health." Accessed March 22, 2019. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/news/2017/during-mens-health-week-nhlbi-scientists-available-discuss-research-mens-health 5Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Celebrate National Men's Health Week, June 12-18, 2017." Accessed May 10, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/family/nmhw/index.htm 6Medline Plus, National Library of Medicine (US). "Health screenings for men ages 40-64." Accessed June 14, 2019. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007465.htm. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190626005784/en/ |