According to Eurostat data, on average in the EU this difference is just over 5 years in women's favour, but there are countries where it is even smaller. Meanwhile, in Poland in the first decade of the 21st century women's average life expectancy was almost 9 years higher than men's - and currently this difference is just under 7.5 years.
"For comparison - in the Netherlands it is only three years, so it is a source of concern and this area should be looked after. We do not have much research to explain the difference, at most we can resort to answers about the quality of life or general information that says that, for example, men work longer"
- Tomasz Topolewski from Poland's non-profit Association for Boys and Men told the Newseria agency.
As the expert emphasised, many social factors contribute to this gap, including the different nature of the usual work women and men perform, a higher accident rate among men and men's more frequent disregard of regular health-checks or early symptoms of illness.
Men in Poland perform dangerous work more often than women. They are also more likely to suffer work-related accidents - in 2022 they accounted for 61.2% of the total number of people injured in such cases. Importantly, men also accounted for as much as 95% of fatally injured at work and 88.3% of seriously injured.
The Association for Boys and Men also points out that men in Poland are more likely to die from lifestyle diseases - and also commit the majority of suicides in our country. As indicated by Polish police data, in 2023, out of 5.200 suicide deaths in the country, as many as 4.000 victims were men.
"Health prevention can certainly also play a big role here. For example, the statistics of the national Prevention 40+ program clearly state: men go and get tested way less. It is a disproportion of around 2 million women to approximately 1.2 million men. It is therefore clear that the issue of underlining the importance of health-checks and early prevention for men is slightly neglected"
- Tomasz Topolewski noted.
Since 2021, the Prevention 40+ program has been operating in Poland. It gives women and men aged 40+ the opportunity to perform free diagnostic tests - in gender-specific dedicated packages. This gives men the opportunity to freely test more than 11 health-important areas, like morphology, cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure and PSA antigen, which allows for identifying prostate problems at an early stage.
According to the Polish National Health Fund - by June 2024, over 3.5 million people have already been examined thanks to the program. However, despite adequate access, men are a clear minority in this group.
"Please note that women have access to a gynaecologist without GM's referral, while men need such a referral to visit a urologist. Therefore, there are possible systemic changes that would simplify this prevention among men. Another idea is to include such tests in the periodic package required by occupational medicine"
- assessed the Association for Boys and Men expert.
In his opinion, the well-established Polish stereotype of a "tough and strong man who does not ask for help and does not need it" also has a very negative impact. According to specialists - such an image blocks Polish men's willingness to visit doctors and perform preventive tests - turning them away from seeking psychological support as well.
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Source: Newseria