Men's Health

Much attention has recently been given to gender differences in medical situations, ranging from health promotion and disease prevention to manifestation of diseases and therapy. In recent years, a good part of this attention has focused on women’s health. This book offers a valuable overview of topics related to men’s health, which primary care physicians in a busy clinical practice can use for quick reviews.

The book begins with a historical perspective of “the gender gap” and suggestions for improving the health of men worldwide. Following is a quite thorough review of specific conditions that occur exclusively in men or that manifest differently between genders. Some topics include prostate disease, testicular cancer, hernias, premature death in men, heart disease, suicide, male sexual dysfunction, male menopause, risk-taking behavior and setting up a well-man clinic in primary care.

High-quality graphics and photographs accompany a generous number of tables. Although written in British English, the book is easy to read because it maintains a simple structure. All 20 chapters are brief overviews of medical issues relevant to men, with the topics organized in a nontraditional way. As commonly occurs with women’s health books, the selection of topics is too extensive.

Although the book is written and edited by clinicians in the United Kingdom and the United States, the focus is mainly British. As such, most statistics and epidemiologic data apply to the United Kingdom and not to the United States. In addition, the book does not put much emphasis on ethnicity and culture as major contributors to disease. For instance, the health issues of gay men are only discussed as they relate to sexually transmitted diseases and anorectal pathology.

I was particularly impressed, however, with the final chapter, which deals with setting up a “well-man clinic” in primary care. In this discussion, the benefits of developing a well-man clinic are balanced with the difficulties that may be encountered in trying to establish such a clinic. Finally, there is a discussion about how to proceed with six essential steps in developing an efficient clinic.