SZ-Magazine: Apart from the physical differences between men and women, why does it actually make sense to look at men’s health separately?
Martin Hall: Because men continue to die earlier than women, about five years on average. We are currently doing a study on over 80-year-olds in retirement homes, where there is often only one man for eight or nine women. Of course, you have to ask yourself why that is.
Why then?
There are various reasons, from lifestyle to the fact that men, especially in previous generations, did more heavy physical labor and smoked more. But it is also crucial that men do much less preventive health care. Women are introduced to topics such as precaution and prevention in a different way and much earlier. It starts with the Pap smear on the cervix, which is often done for the first time in the teens, followed by regular breast cancer screening. With men, on the other hand, nothing happens for thirty years. Of course, looking at the prostate or the heart for the first time at the age of 50 is better than putting it off any longer. On the other hand, we know that problematic processes often begin in adolescence and can then lead to heart attacks or cancer in men over 50. A lot could be avoided with better prevention.