Online Workshop: Building a Men's Health Practice with a Strong Foundation in Lifestyle Medicine

Workshop Description: In this workshop, we will examine the health disparities affecting men – including the notable gender gap in longevity – and explore how evidence-based lifestyle medicine strategies can be applied to address these disparities within a men’s health practice. Participants will hear from experts in the field and see real-world examples of programs designed to educate them on how to talk to men about their health and understand what men prioritize about their health. Men face a significant “gender gap” in health outcomes and longevity compared to their female counterparts. Men die at higher rates from nine out of the 10 leading causes of death and have a higher lifetime risk for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS. Men suffer more deaths of despair, including those caused by alcoholism, overdose, and suicide despite being less likely to be diagnosed with depression. Minority men suffer disproportionately from chronic disease as the result of the combined effects of race, ethnicity, and gender-based discrimination. African American men have the worst health outcomes of any gender-ethnic group in the United States and are affected by violence and incarceration at alarming rates. Most striking is the growing gender gap in longevity, with men living over five years fewer than women. Despite these well-described disparities, the U.S. healthcare system has been slow to respond, and the U.S. currently lacks a national health policy for men. A survey of the top 50 hospitals for urology in the US News and World Report rankings revealed that only 16 of the top 50 programs offered some form of a men’s health center, while 49 out of 50 offered a women’s health center. Of the 16 centers offering some form of men’s health, only four provided primary care services such as treatment for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal injuries, or preventive care. Research is lacking, and there are only six journals indexed in MEDLINE dedicated to men’s health as compared to 62 journals dedicated to women’s health. A PubMed search of papers and abstracts from 1970 to 2018 showed that the term “men’s health” had been used 1,555 times, whereas the term “women’s health” had been used 14,501 times. A coordinated public health policy to address these disparities is absent, and a federally funded office of men’s health does not currently exist. Efforts to address these health disparities must acknowledge that male gender, including male social roles, norms of masculinity, and patterns of healthcare utilization are greater determinants of health than male sex. We know that men are more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviors, use substances, and consume unhealthy foods, and are less likely to seek preventive health services. We also know that men are more likely to engage with health information when it is customized to their specific needs and preferences. Creating a model of healthcare delivery that acknowledges the important social drivers of a man’s health and creates gender-specific messaging around healthy lifestyle interventions is essential to improving the health of individual men and the health of their families and communities.