Lives Too Short

The state of men’s health in England

Dying young
Life expectancy at birth by social class iv

22% of men die before the age of 65 42% of men still die before 75
i

Men
Women
Social Life expectancy at birth
class

Life expectancy at birth and at 65 years old ii

II

At birth At age 65 IIIN

UK
England
Men IIIM

IV
Women
V
Life expectancy is closely linked to poverty. This is especially true for men -
their health is even more affected by disadvantage than women’s. unclassified

Top ten UK & English local authority In every age group, men have a higher mortality rate than women.
iii
areas for male life expectancy at birth
Mortality rates in England & Wales
by three social classes, men aged 25–64 v

Managerial Routine
Your town: & professional Intermediate & manual

To find the figures for your local authority visit see

footnote iii or contact the Men’s Health Forum.

Town:..................................................................................
Mortality per
Bottom ten English local authority areas
100,000
at birth:............... at age 65:................ ranking:.............. for male life expectancy at birth

Cardiovascular diseases Weight & activity

– the most common
cause of death

Male death rates from circulatory disease are 41% 32%

of men of women

300 per
Men & health services 100,000 are overweight.xv
Just 40% of men meet the Chief Medical Officer’s
Men visit the GP 20% less than women. vi and, for women,
recommendations for physical activity.

52 % of all A&E department visits are by men. Men aged between 20 190 per
and 29 years are the biggest single group of users of A&E departments.vii 100,000 Drinking & smoking
Women have higher GP consultation rates for a wide range of illnesses,
so the gender differences cannot be explained simply by their need for This includes heart disease and stroke.xiii
contraceptive and pregnancy care.viii
33 % of men and 16
% of women are drinking
at a potentially harmful level.
Cancer
Mental well-being Alcohol-related death rates in
men have more than doubled,
Men make up 94% xi
of the
Men are 70
% more likely than rising from 8.2 per 100,000 in 1992 to 16.7 per
100,000 in 2008.xvi
women to die from cancers
prison population.

76% 73%
of people who of adults who that affect both sexes 16% of men in professional work smoke
kill themselves
are men ix
“go missing”
are men x
72 % of male prisoners suffer and 60% more likely to get cancer. xiv compared with 27% in manual work.xvii
from two or more mental
disorders. xii

The MHF action plan for men’s health

Full policy recommendations and practice guidance on these issues are set out in MHF’s
• Tackle men’s mental health problems publications referred to in the More information on men’s health section overleaf. All are available
• Get more men physically active on our website.
• Address men’s high cancer rates Show your support for the action plan for men’s health by signing our pledge at:
• Improve men’s use of primary health services
• Involve more workplaces in men’s health and wellbeing www.menshealthforum.org.uk/livestooshort

i Office for National Statistics (2008), Mortality Statistics: Deaths
registered in 2007. Review of the National Statistician on deaths in
England and Wales.
ii Office for National Statistics, Interim Life Tables 2006-8
iii ONS, Life expectancy at birth and at age 65 by local areas in the
United Kingdom, 2006-08
iv ONS, Trends in Life Expectancy by social class 1972-2005,
October 2007
v ONS, Health Statistics Quarterly 47, Autumn 2010
vi ONS, General Lifestyle Survey 2008, chapter 7.
vii NHS Information Centre, Hospital Episode Statistics: Accident
and emergency attendances in England (experimental statistics),
2008-09
viii Bajekal M. et al (2006), Focus on Health.
ix ONS, Suicide rates in the UK 1991-2008
x Biehal N, Wade J and Mitchell F. Lost from view: Missing persons
in the UK. Bristol: Policy Press; 2003
xi Ministry of Justice. Population in custody: Monthly tables, March
2009. England and Wales. London: Ministry of Justice; 2009.
xii Social Exclusion Unit. Mental Health and Social Exclusion. London:
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; 2004
xiii ONS, Mortality: Circulatory diseases - leading cause group,
January 2006.
xiv National Cancer Intelligence Network et al, The Excess Burden of
Cancer in Men in the UK. Men are almost 40% more likely than
women to die from cancer and 16% more likely to develop the
disease. After excluding breast cancer and cancers specific to one
or other sex from the analysis, the difference is even greater - with
men being almost 70% more likely to die from cancer and over 60%
more likely to develop the disease.
xv NHS Information Centre, Statistics on obesity, physical activity
and diet: England, February 2009.
xvi ONS, Alcohol-related deaths in the United Kingdom, January
2010
xvii NHS Information Centre, Statistics on Smoking: England, 2009.
September 2009.

Lives Too Short
The state of men’s health
England 2010
Average life expectancy for men in social class 5 is
under 73 years. This death toll is unnecessarily high
and preventable.
This report describes the scale of the problem and
some of the solutions. The key statistics are in poster-
form for display.
The Men’s Health Forum’s
Lives Too Short
Pledge of Support
It’s time to improve men’s health. In England today, too many men die too young:
one in five dies before he reaches the age of 65; two in every five are dead by 75.
Average life expectancy for men in social class 5 is under 73 years.
This death toll is unnecessarily high and preventable.
• 76% of suicides are male
• 66% of men are overweight or obese – the obesity rate alone could rise to 60%
by 2050
• Just 40% of men are physically active enough to benefit their health
• Men are 60% more likely than women to develop cancers that affect both sexes
and are 70% more likely to die from these forms of the disease
• Men visit their GP 20% less often than women and take longer to seek help
The Men’s Health Forum is calling for action to:
• Tackle men’s mental health problems
• Get more men physically active
• Address men’s high cancer rates
• Improve men’s use of primary health services
• Involve more workplaces in men’s health and wellbeing
I/we pledge to play my/our part at work and in the community to improve men’s health.
Please show your support for men’s health by signing
the MHF’s pledge at
www.menshealthforum.org.uk/livestooshort
About the Men’s Health Forum
MHF is a charity that aims to be the centre of
excellence for men’s health policy and practice
in England and Wales. We tackle the issues and
inequalities affecting the health and well-being
of men and boys.
MHF’s vision is a future in which all boys and men
in England and Wales have an equal opportunity
to attain the highest possible level of health and
well-being.
We work to achieve this through:
• Policy development, research and lobbying
• Supporting other organisations and services
to engage more effectively with boys and men
on health issues
• Leading the annual National Men’s Health Week
• Publishing an award-winning range of health
booklets for men
• Running the unique ‘consumer’ website for
men - www.malehealth.co.uk
• Working with MPs and government
• Developing innovative and imaginative best
practice projects
• Training service providers and others
• Collaborating with the widest possible range
of interested organisations and individuals.
Contacting the Men’s Health Forum
www.menshealthforum.org.uk – the centre of excellence for men’s health policy and practice
www.malehealth.co.uk – fast, free, independent health info from the Men’s Health Forum
office@menshealthforum.org.uk
020 7922 7908
The Men’s Health Forum
32-36 Loman Street
London
SE1 0EH
The Men’s Health Forum. Registered Office: 32-36 Loman Street, London SE1 0EH.
A registered charity (No 1087375). A company limited by guarantee (No 4142349 - England).
More information on men’s health
The statistics on our poster overleaf relate to
key areas of the MHF’s work.
For policymakers and health professionals, we
publish a range of briefings and research on
best practice.
Information on all of our work is on our website
at www.menshealthforum.org.uk.
Men’s use of services
Central to the work of the MHF is men’s poor
use of a wide range of primary care services.
Men often delay seeking medical help until
conditions have become more advanced and
harder to treat – this is thought to be a factor
behind men’s high death rates from cancer and
other conditions.
The Forum has completed a range of work on
this issue. The Gender and Access to Health
Services Study (2008), commissioned from the
MHF and published by the Department of Health,
examined the different ways women and men
use a variety of key services.
In 2009, we published the Racks of make up and
no spanners report on men’s use of pharmacies.
The Gender and Access to Health
Services Study
Final Report
David Wilkins
Dr Sarah Payne
Dr Gillian Granville
Dr Peter Branney
Mental health & well-being
Our work on mental health includes Untold
Problems(2010), a review of the major issues in
male metal health, and Mind Your Head (2006).
We are continuing our work on this topic with
the leading mental health charity Mind and
For the ‘man in the street’, our award-winning
website www.malehealth.co.uk delivers straight-
talking, independent, free health information.
Our range of health booklets, designed and
published by Haynes, the UK’s leading publisher of
car maintenance manuals, are available to health
providers and employers.
MHF was founded by the Royal College of
Nursing in 1994 and became an independent
charity in 2001. The Forum works across a
number of health and related issues.
These include:
• Physical activity
• Cancer
• Workplace health
• Mental health
• Access to primary care.
Our work focuses particularly on those groups of
men with the worst health and we are striving to take
account of the diversity of men and their needs.
Recent successes include our campaigns for
a screening programme for abdominal aortic
aneurysms in older men and for the National
Chlamydia Screening Programme to target
young men as well as women. As a direct result
of our work, Department of Health policy on
pharmacy now requires services to address the
needs of men and national cancer policy also
takes account of gender differences.
In 2009, we became a Strategic Partner of the
Department of Health. This three-year programme
will see us working alongside government to
help the NHS and voluntary sector organisations
improve the health of men and boys.
For more about the work of the Forum, including
the issues raised here visit our website,
www.menshealthforum.org.uk
will publish a guide for mental health professionals
on working with men in early 2011.
Untold problems
A review of the essential issues in the
mental health of men and boys
David Wilkins
Men’s Health Forum
Commissioned by Published by
Cancer
Our work showing men’s disproportionately high
rates of cancer was launched in National Men’s
Health Week in 2004. In 2009, we collaborated
with leading cancer organisations to publish
The Excess Burden of Cancer in Men in the UK.
Our major government-funded study looking
at how to improve men’s uptake of the national
bowel cancer screening programme will be
published in 2011.
Weight & physical activity
The MHF’s policy paper Hazardous Waist:
Tackling the epidemic of excess weight in men
(2005) focused on the increasing levels of
obesity and weight problems in men and how
understanding gender differences is important
in tacking them.
In National Men’s Health Week 2010, MHF
launched the One Million More Men Challenge.
This aims to get one million men aged 35-64
more physically active.
ONE MILLION MORE MEN:
THE MEN’S HEALTH FORUM
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SPORT
CHALLENGE
A POLICY STATEMENT FOR NATIONAL MEN’S
HEALTH WEEK 2010
KEY ISSUES
•
•
•
•
The Men’s Health Forum is challenging government, the NHS, local government, sports
organisations, charities and others to work together to help one million more middle-aged men in
England achieve the Chief Medical Officer’s minimum recommended levels by 2012.
Too many men are inactive with serious effects on their health, the NHS and the wider economy.
Men must not be overlooked in policy and practice on physical activity; physical inactivity in
women must be tackled but it is not just a women’s health problem.
There are important differences in men’s and women’s attitudes to physical activity and the
barriers that prevent them becoming more active.
• Social marketing approaches should be used to improve the physical activity ‘message’ to men.
• The public health workforce requires information and training to enable the engagement of larger
numbers of men in physical activity.
• More must be done to realise the potential role of sports venues to deliver health services and
campaigns to men.
Background
• Sedentary lifestyles are a major public health and economic problem.
Inactivity affects more people in England than the combined total of those who
smoke, misuse alcohol or are obese. On average, inactivity costs each primary
care trust £5 million per year due to health consequences. The estimated annual
cost to the English economy as a whole is £8.3 billion. 1