Preventative Health Care, Early Treatment Important for Men

National Men's Health Week is June 11-17

American men face an array of potential health challenges, from heart disease and prostate cancer to stroke and testicular cancer. Yet national statistics show that men visit doctors 30 percent less often than women.

As part of National Men's Health Week, Martin's Point Health Care is encouraging men to become more proactive about their health, including scheduling regular checkups. National Men's Health Week, sponsored by the National Men's Health Foundation (NMHF), is designed to raise awareness about the importance of preventative health care and early detection and treatment of health problems.

"National Men's Health Week is an opportunity to remind men everywhere that the key to good health is maintaining healthy lifestyles and early detection and treatment of medical concerns," said Dr. John O. Vogt, the assistant medical director at Portland, Maine-based Martin's Point, the state's largest primary care practice. "Through education and regular physicals, men can reduce the risk and incidence of health problems."

In addition to non-gender-specific health concerns such as heart disease, stroke, cholesterol and blood pressure, health problems that are common for men include colon cancer, prostate cancer and testicular cancer, as well as suicide, alcoholism and "men's fear of doctors," according to the NMHF.

The non-profit group also provides these statistics:
- Heart disease is the leading cause of death among men in the United States.
- An estimated 180,410 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 2000.
- The average life expectancy for women is about 7 years higher than for men.
- At least an estimated 2.5 million men - or one third of all men with the disease - don't know that they have diabetes.
- Nearly 830,000 men (ages 25-64) died from heart disease in 1997.
- An estimated 31,900 men in 2000 died from prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in men.
- Men represent 84 percent of all AIDS cases in the United States.
- American men ages 45-64 suffer from an estimated 218,000 heart attacks a year. Women in the same age group suffer 74,000 heart attacks annually.
- Twenty-five percent of men will die within one year of having a heart attack.

For more information, the following links are available online: http://www.nmhw.org (National Men's Health Week); and http://www.menshealth.com/nmhw2 (Healthy Living Guide for Men).

Martin's Point, with headquarters in Portland at 331 Veranda St., is a not-for-profit health care organization with facilities in Portland, Brunswick and Windham, Maine, and in Portsmouth, N.H. It has a staff of more than 300 health care professionals and serves 50,000 patients under all major health plans and insurance, including HealthSource, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Harvard Community Health Plan, Aetna, Maine Partners, Cigna, Anthem, Champus and Tricare plans.

Established in 1981, Martin's Point serves patients in the areas of family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, radiology, cardiology, mammography and other fields. For additional information, visit online at http://www.martinspoint.org.

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