KUALA
LUMPUR: The good news - Malaysian men are living longer, at an average
of 72 years. The bad news - their healthy days are over 14 years earlier
than men in Western countries and Japan. In other words, they will
spend their last 14 years battling ill health.
"This
is very uncomfortable because Malaysian men do not die, they suffer ill
health," says Datuk Prof Dr Tan Hui Meng, President of the Malaysian
Society of Andrology and the Study of the Aging Male.
He
said studies showed that an average Malaysian man gets his first heart
attack in his 50s. In Western countries, this happens to men in their
early 70s.
A
random study of 4,000 men in Petaling Jaya in the last few months
revealed that the average age of those who got their first heart attack
was 58. The study also showed that 87 per cent of the respondents had
one major illness while 67 per cent had two.
Dr Tan, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, said
men did not take potential risk seriously and unlike women were
reluctant to seek treatment.
The risk factors for diseases include lack of exercise, excessive smoking, drinking and eating, inadequate sleep and obesity.
Dr Tan said these factors accumulated and exploded when Malaysian men reached the age of 50.
"It is payback time for abusing the body and leading an unhealthy lifestyle."
"The
result is that when men should be enjoying their most productive years,
they suffer from diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks
and strokes."
Concerned
with men’s health, Malaysia will host the First Japan-Asean men’s
health and aging conference in conjunction with the Second National
Men’s Health and Aging Conference at Hilton Kuala Lumpur on June 15.
Some 500 health care workers are expected to attend.
Dr Tan said Asean and the rest of the world could learn a lot from the
Japanese experience in men’s health and aging, as its population had the
longest life expectancy in the world.
He said doctors should be "men-friendly" and educate them on the importance of having a healthy lifestyle from an early age.
"There is a need to create an environment for men to have easy access
to information and to talk about their problems, including sexual
problems."