Although men tend to believe they are healthier than women, their life expectancy is actually shorter and they are less prone to seek medical treatment for ailments, a Department of Health report showed.
The study, conducted by the department’s Bureau of Health Promotion, showed that thanks to advances in the medical field in the past 50 years, the average life expectancy for men and women in Taiwan has increased.
However, the gap between the life expectancy of men and women has widened. In 1960, women lived on average 4.1 years longer than men. Today, the gap is at 6.6 years.
The bureau also found that for the most common causes of death, such as cancer, heart disease, injuries, lung disease and several other illnesses, the rate of fatality was higher in men than women.
Shiu Ruei-shiang (徐瑞祥), director of the bureau’s Division of Adult and Elderly Health, said this could be attributed to the tendency of men to ignore their body’s alarm signals and delay visiting a doctor to receive treatment, thus giving illnesses time to become more serious.
“Men tend to be under the illusion that they are in good health and therefore do not need to visit a doctor. As a result, men often allow minor illnesses to develop into more serious health problems because they ignore the problem until it is too late,” Shiu said.
The study also showed that men have more unhealthy habits that contribute to higher risks of diseases than women. For example, 14 times as many men chew betel nuts as women and more than half of the male population is overweight, compared with 36 percent of women.
The bureau also found that males receive health check-ups less often than females, another reason contributing to the delayed discovery of serious illnesses.
The bureau urged the public to receive regular health checks to detect and treat illnesses in their early stages. The health system offers people between 40 and 64 years of age free check-ups once every three years, the bureau said.
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