We’re living longer and women are outdoing men

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Murders and road traffic accidents aside, Bermudians are living longer than they ever have.

According to the Department of Health’s ‘Health in Review’ last year, Bermudians typically lived to a few months past their 79th birthday (ie life expectancy in 2010 was 79.3). But local women tend to live longer than men. At last count they tended to outlive them by almost five-and-a-half years.

I’ve heard men joke that they die sooner because they want to. But that’s certainly not true for every man that dies.

Studies in the US and elsewhere show that men tend to pay less attention to their health than women and it’s believed that this contributes to women living longer.

A survey of 519 men in the US last March saw half the men aged between 18 and 50 did not even have a doctor. That survey also revealed about 40 percent of men in aged their 40s had never had their cholesterol levels taken, and a whopping 70 percent had never had a prostate exam.

But that’s not at all the picture with men in Bermuda, according to CEO of the Bermuda Health Council Dr Jennifer Attride-Stirling.

Pointing to the Health Survey of Adults in Bermuda 2011, she said: “Generally speaking, men in Bermuda make good access of healthcare.”

She said survey figures we have for Bermuda show that:

95 percent of men say they have at least one personal doctor or healthcare provider. This is very similar to women (97 percent).

86 percent of men report having had a general physical exam in the previous two year period; 62 percent had one in the previous year.

86 percent of men aged over 40 had a prostate-specific antigen test in the previous two years

79 percent of men aged over 40 had a digital rectal exam in the previous two years.

So why is it that women here tend to live five years longer than men? No one can say with surety. It is the trend in developed countries and according to Dr Attride-Stirling, the reasons are complex.

“Healthcare-seeking behaviour is among them, but there are also other factors such as risk-taking, occupation, lifestyle, genetics, etc,” she said.

“The disparity in life expectancy between men and women in Bermuda is similar to elsewhere in the world. Nevertheless, it is well accepted that specific screenings at particular ages help to identify problems early on and improve health outcomes for the population.”

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