It’s been 18 days of Movember 2013, and of course Movember is a fun event (if you enjoy ridiculing guys like me for growing a lip-ferret, which I still feel belongs back in the age of ascots, fishbowl parties, and typewriters). But as fun as it is, the cause we’re supporting is quite serious.
The challenges to men’s health are a grim subject. The bottom line is we’re more likely to face serious health issues than women, and more likely to die because of them than women. Using scary stats to motivate people is not how we roll at Movember, but the facts below are too startling to ignore. In the US:
- 1 in 2 men, and 1 in 3 women, will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime – and men will contribute 12% more deaths this year vs. women.
- 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime.
- Over 238,000 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed and almost 30,000 men will die of prostate cancer in 2013.
- Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in males between the ages of 15 and 35.
- 7,920 men will be diagnosed with testicular cancer and 370 will die in 2013.
- 6 million people die every year from tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke. One person dies every six seconds.
- 1 in every 13 men will be diagnosed with lung cancer in his lifetime – and we’re 21% more likely to die than women.
- While not as common, men can get breast cancer. About 2,240 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed among men and about 410 men will die from the disease in 2013.
- More than 3.5 million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed each year.
- An estimated 13 million men, or 11.8% of all men over the age of 20, have diabetes – a rate 9% higher than women.
- Approximately 76.4 million men and women have high blood pressure.
- Men who sit more than six hours a day have an 18 percent increased risk of dying from heart disease and a 7.8 percent increased chance of dying from diabetes compared with someone who sits for three hours or less a day.
- Globally, 5.3 million deaths will be attributed to physical inactivity.
- Over 6 million men are diagnosed with depression each year.
- Almost four times as many males as females die by suicide.
- 24% of men are less likely to go to the doctor compared to women.
If you really want to freak out about the cancer rates for men vs. women check out the stats onhttp://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@epidemiologysurveilance/documents/document/acspc-036845.pdf
What’s the bottom line?
- First: don’t be stupid! Knowledge Is Power, Prevention Is Everything, Early Detection Is Key. Check out http://us.movember.com/mens-health/resources/ for tips and remember to get yourself checked out! Seriously – men, go to the g*ddamn doctor. Women, urge men to got to g*ddamn doctor.
- Second: help us support world-class men’s health programs that combat prostate and testicular cancer by contributing here http://mobro.co/vladb. These programs, directed by the Movember Foundation, are focused on awareness and education, living with and beyond cancer, and research to achieve our vision of an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health.
For those of you who’ve already contributed to my Movember campaign – thank you. There’s scary moustache pictures posted in the gallery at http://mobro.co/vladb.
