Health Proactivity: Critical Screenings for Male Health

We’ve all grown up hearing the popular adage “prevention is better than cure.” With inflation and medical costs on the rise, preventative healthcare has become more imperative. People often adopt a healthier lifestyle which leads to them becoming more confident that they won’t be sick. Sadly, this is not enough.

There are multiple factors that affect an individual’s health and lifestyle choices are just one of them. Other factors that affect health include genetics, age range, contraction of an infectious disease, mental health, and even ongoing prescriptions that an individual is taking. Even then, the risk for certain diseases is never zero and it does not help that most cancers, for instance, have undetermined causes.

The only way to have a high degree of certainty on the status of your health is to get a formal health screening.

Benefits of Employee Health Screenings

Most business organisations conduct Annual Physical Exams (APE) for their employees. It’s usually a part of their corporate HMO package. However, employers should consider the following merits of availing executive check-up or availing HMO packages with preventative healthcare subsidies for their employees:

• Healthier workforce – health screenings would promote wellness among your employees because they would be aware of the state of their bodies. They are more likely to take steps to protect their health which would prevent sick leaves and abrupt resignations due to medical causes. Good physical health also precedes good mental health and a happier workforce would mean better working relationships within the company.
• Improved Productivity – employees would feel their best both physiologically and psychologically which means they are likely to perform excellently on their tasks. Removing health in their worries would mean they can focus on other goals including career objectives.
• Employee Loyalty – conducting comprehensive health screenings is an investment on the side of the organisation and employees are aware of this. They would perceive it as the company caring about their wellbeing which would stimulate loyalty to stay in the company. As a way to promote this, employers can provide better health screening packages that employees can avail only after reaching a certain tenure (i.e. being employed for at least 5 years).

Prevalent Physical Diseases among Men

The ideal tests for a health screening should be those that check for diseases that are common among men. Here are the most common health conditions for males:

1. Cardiovascular Diseases. Men develop cardiovascular diseases a decade earlier than women and have double the risk for heart attacks. Causes for this include differences in hormones, psychosocial support, and lifestyle habits. Men have lower levels of estrogen and progesterone which helps promote healthy blood vessels. Testosterone may help but some men have hypogonadism or low testosterone while others increase their risk for heart diseases when self-administering testosterone for muscle building. Men also are likelier to eat read meat, smoke, and drink alcoholic beverages.
2. Type-2 Diabetes. The rate of diabetes is increasing in both men and women but the latter have more risk to it because of the way fat is deposited in their body. Men usually have a higher visceral fat deposition than women which is fat that is stored around an organ usually in the belly area. Those that have testosterone deficiency are more susceptible to this which is why males with diabetes tend to have lower weight than women. The National Institute of Health also state that approximately 17.7 million more males than females globally have diabetes.
3. Liver Diseases. While both genders have high rates of liver diseases, men tend to consume more alcohol than women which increases their risk. Their risk for hepatitis, which is the inflammation of the liver, also increases the more sexually active they are and if they’re not using a condom as a form of birth control. A particular subgroup of men called ‘men who have sex with men’ or MSM has the highest hepatitis rate. Men also have a higher chance of developing and dying from liver cirrhosis, the scarring of the liver, as well as liver cancer.
4. Lung Diseases. Lung diseases also rank higher for males because of certain factors like higher tobacco use and exposure to harmful substances during work like asbestos. Males are likelier to develop specific lung diseases namely emphysema (shortness of breath due to smoking), mesothelioma (a rare and aggressive cancer on tissue linings), and pulmonary fibrosis (tissues surrounding alveoli or ‘air sacs’ get damaged). When it comes to the five-year survival rate of lung cancer, men tend to have a lower survival rate than women.
5. Prostate Cancer. Despite being only exclusive to those who are assigned male at birth, prostate cancer is among the highest occurring cancers in the world. Most cases are from men who are older than 50 years old but there is no guarantee that it won’t be contracted earlier because, like a lot of cancers, there is no clear cause. There are certain factors that increase risk like genetics, prior history, and if you are of African descent. Treating prostate cancer can also result in developing erectile dysfunction (ED).
6. Testicular Cancer. This form of cancer does not occur as often as other types of diseases but men should still be wary of it. There is no known cause of testicular cancer but scientists have determined that around 90% of testicular cancers came from germ cells, cells that turn into sperm, that clumped and became a tumor. Testicular cancer usually occurs in younger males, but older males can also contract it. It is also more common among white men than males from other races.
7. Colorectal Cancer. The risk of developing colorectal cancer is about 50% higher in males and they also have a lower rate of survival compared to women. Just like in diabetes, visceral fat deposition plays a role in developing colorectal cancer. Men also consume more carcinogenic products than women and are less likely to visit a doctor, much less get a colonoscopy to clear any polyps, a clump of cells, in their colon.
8. HIV/AIDS. Men show lower rates of HIV compared to women but they should still get checked especially if they are sexually active, have multiple partners, and don’t use condoms. Just like hepatitis, MSM also has the highest rate for HIV because they do not use condoms and the rectum is much more vulnerable than the vagina. Symptoms unique to males include ED, hypogonadism, infertility, enlargement of mammary glands, hair loss, dysuria (painful peeing), and wounds on the penis.
9. Erectile Dysfunction. Unlike the other conditions listed, there are many possible reasons for erectile dysfunction and it’s usually a symptom of a much more serious illness. Hypogonadism, certain medications, vices (drinking/smoking/overeating), and psychological factors (mental disorders, excessive stress, relationship problems) may cause a man to develop ED. It’s important to get ED checked because men above 40 years old have an 80% probability of developing a heart disorder.

Male Health Screening Checklist

Now that we have identified the most common diseases among men, we have listed the diagnostic exams that one can take. While these tests are usually recommended for certain age ranges, you should still get checked if you are experiencing the symptoms or engaging in lifestyle habits that contribute to the acquisition of a specific disease.

1. Screening for Heart Disease

• Blood Pressure Readings – used to test if you have high blood pressure which is a prerequisite for multiple heart conditions.
• Blood Test – measures the level of sugar and cholesterol in your blood which increases the risk for heart attack, atherosclerosis, and stroke.
• Electrocardiogram (ECG) – used to check for irregularities in the rhythm of your heart which helps to check for angina, chest pains because of decreased blood flow to the heart, and heart attacks.
• Cardiac Troponin (cTn) Test – measures your troponin levels to see if you’ve had a heart attack in the past or are about to.
• Carotid Ultrasound – recommended for men who are at risk of stroke, this test checks if you have a normal blood flow in your carotid arteries.

2. Screening for Diabetes

• Fasting Blood Sugar Test – measures your blood glucose levels after fasting overnight.
• Glucose Tolerance Test – measures your blood glucose levels before and after consuming a sugary drink.
• Haemoglobin A1C Test – measures your blood glucose levels and any fluctuations at different points during the span of 3 months.

3. Screening for Liver Diseases

• Liver function tests – blood test that measures irregularities in the levels of the compounds produced by your liver.
• Imaging Tests – magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) scans, and liver ultrasound can check damage to your liver like liver cirrhosis, hepatitis, and liver cancer.
• Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) test – specifically checks the level of AFP in your blood which may indicate multiple types of cancer including liver cancer.

4. Screening for Lung Diseases

• Physical exam – a physician will use a stethoscope to check the sound that your lungs make.
• X-ray – an imaging test that shows the appearance of the lungs which will indicate if they have a specific disease.
• LDCT – low-dose computed tomography is recommended when checking for lung cancer because of its detailed imaging that shows even tiny lung nodules.
• Spirometry – a type of pulmonary function test that checks for abnormalities in your breathing which indicate specific lung conditions.

5. Screening for Colorectal Cancer

• Stool Tests – guaiac-based faecal occult blood test (gFOBT), faecal immunochemical test (FIT), FIT-DNA test respectively check for guaiac, antibodies, and DNA alteration in your faeces as well as the presence of blood.
• Flexible Sigmoidoscopy – the doctor inserts a tube with a camera all the way to a third of your colon to check for polyps.
• Colonoscopy – similar to flexible sigmoidoscopy except that the doctor checks the entire colon and removes all polyps.
• CT Colonography – the use of x-ray to virtually check for polyps. Preferred by those who want a non-invasive procedure. But please note that you will still need to undergo colonoscopy to remove polyps.

6. Screening for Prostate Cancer

• Digital Rectal Exam – the physician inserts their gloved finger into your anus to check for abnormalities.
• Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test – checks for abnormal levels of prostate-specific antigen in your blood which indicate prostate cancer.

7. Screening for Testicular Cancer

• Physical Exam – usually a self-test where a man feels their testes for any lumps or pain.
• Ultrasound – an imaging test that checks if there are tumours in your testes.

8. Screening for HIV/AIDS

• Rapid HIV Antibody Test – can be used for self-testing. A patient just needs to prick their finger and let the blood drip on the tool.
• Nucleic Acid Test – the doctor draws your blood to determine the amount of virus existing in your blood.

9. Screening for Erectile Dysfunction

• Physical Examination – just like testicular cancer, the patient can conduct this examination or determine it during sexual encounters.
• Assessment Exams – our clinic has a list of questions that determine the severity of erectile dysfunction and possible comorbidities.
• Complete Blood Count – determines if you have anaemia, high cholesterol, high glucose level, and low testosterone which are prerequisites to ED.

Final Consideration

Health screenings are even more critical for men as most diseases have a higher probability for them than women. This is attributed to gender-specific biological factors, displays of risky behaviour and avoidance of medical care by males. However, there is an increasing awareness towards the importance of health ever since the pandemic where co-morbid diseases increased one’s COVID lethality rate. Men also tend to be the provider or have a higher salary than women which affects the financial capacity of the household. Health screening, therefore, is a cost-effective way to ‘insure’ not just a man’s wealth, but their most important asset – their lifespan itself.