This and social attitudes towards men's health mean that men have a lower life expectancy, a higher suicide rate and a higher death rate from cancer than women, the Men's Health Forum said. Launching a report on Monday, it called for a big increase in spending on research into men's health and for more imaginative ways to educate men about their health.
Suicide is the biggest killer of young men in some parts of the country.
The forum says unemployment and changing attitudes towards male roles has contributed to an identity crisis and growing mental health problems among men. There is also growing concern that problems such as prostate and testicular cancer are ignored by men until they are at a late stage when treatment is not as effective. The forum says women are much better at getting to the doctor when they have a problem. Macho attitudes to health mean men tend to avoid the doctor wherever possible. Prostate cancer Dr Ian Banks, chairman of the forum, says 37,000 a year is spent on research for prostate cancer, compared with 4.3m on breast cancer.