Other men's diseases - men's appreciation of health risks

American Demographics, Oct, 1997 by Nancy Ten Kate

American men are aware of many of the diseases and conditions that threaten their health, but many underestimate their risk. Prostate cancer is on their minds, with 80 percent saying it's an important health issue for men. Yet less than half believe they will develop the disease. Black males think they are no more likely than whites to develop prostate cancer, despite the fact that black American men have the highest incidence of prostate cancer in the world.

When it comes to most other potential health problems, black men are much more likely than white men to think they will eventually have to face them. Higher percentages of blacks than whites feel they will develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lung cancer, diabetes, pneumonia, cirrhosis or hepatitis, and AIDS.

Only heart disease and skin cancer are on the minds of a larger share of whites than blacks. Skin cancer is much more of a risk for whites than blacks, yet the death rate for heart disease among black men is 3 percent higher than for white men.

It's interesting to note that young men recognize health risks many years before they are likely to develop problems. Sixty-three percent of 18-to-24-year-olds believe they are likely to develop high blood pressure, the highest percentage of any age group, compared with 55 percent of men of all ages. The only health problem that young men are disproportionately less attuned to is prostate cancer--38 percent think they will develop it, compared with 49 percent of all men.

The May 1997 Mens Health magazine/CNN survey of 551 men aged 18 and older was conducted by Opinion Research Group. For more information, contact Patrick Taylor at Mens Health, 14 East Minor Street, Emmaus, PA 18098-0099; telephone (610) 967-8621; Web site www.menshealth.com.

demo memo

(percent of U.S. adults aged 16 and older who feel a strong or moderate need to "know myself better," by age, 1996)

total          67%
16 to 30       76
31 to 50       69
51 and older   54

Source: Yankelovich Partners