Many Irish men do not attend doctors because they are afraid of what they might be told, a new survey published today shows.
The survey, Getting Inside Men's Healthalso found that many men who consume alcohol far in excess of recommended limits, consider their drinking to be moderate. Both issues are linked to men's ideas of masculinity, the survey found.
The South Eastern Health Board (SEHB) carried out the research interviewing 570 randomly selected men from the five south eastern counties over three years.
Mr Pat McLoughlin chief executive officer of the SEHB said the statistics were "rather grave".
Chief executive officer of the SEHB, Mr Pat McLoughlin
"The report shows, the culture in which a man finds himself has a crucial bearing on his health status," Mr McLoughlin said.
The survey found drinking culture endemic in society, saying: "The 'drinking man' continues to be upheld with considerable honour even by his more abstemious male peers."
Half of those drinking over 50 units per week (twice the recommended maximum) and nine-out-of-ten weekly binge drinkers considered themselves moderate drinkers.
The study found "strong evidence" that men view risk-taking and violence as means of defining masculinity and "sustaining allegiance to male peer groups".
It also found that many men are afraid to go the doctor and are therefore not proactive about their health.
"Many men expressed fear or anxiety about going to the doctor, with fear appearing under many guises: silence, denial, procrastination, fatalism, the notion of a self-healing ability. It also appears that the fear and uncertainty of 'what might be wrong' may pose a bigger threat to men's health, than the reality of ill-health itself," the study found.
This leads to a lack of knowledge about fundamental health issues.
Less than half of men surveyed knew the function of the prostate gland and over a third were unaware of common prostate cancer symptoms.
Some 75 per cent of those between 18 and 29 years old were not aware that young men were at highest risk of developing testicular cancer.
Author of the study, Mr Noel Richardson noted that "while men have traditionally been the predominant players in terms of health policy and health service delivery, rarely has the spotlight focused on men's own health, at a personal or individual level."
One positive finding was that fatherhood makes men more health consciousness. Two-thirds of the fathers surveyed reported taking fewer health risks upon becoming a father.