Men in the UAE opening up to their health: Study

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

In the past 12 years, family man Omar from Sharjah has not visited the clinic for general check-up and claims he knows how to go about and deal with bouts of cough and colds, flu and sleeplessness.

Omar’s attitude has been supported by two surveys conducted by Cleveland Clinic-US and Cleveland Clinic-Abu Dhabi seven months apart this 2019 revealing that men generally sweep the state of their health under the rug.

However, in the UAE research done in the past two weeks in relation to the month of November being “Men’s Health Month,” it has shown that though men keep their health problems to themselves, they are already open to discussions with the trustworthy.

The conclusions were released to the media on Tuesday showing that of 1,000 men surveyed among Emiratis, Arab expatriates, Asians and Caucasians from age 18 to over 40, 490 talk out their health concerns with their doctors, 430 with their wives, 380 with their parents, and 320 with their peers.

From the April 2019 Mainland US study of 1,174 men between the ages of 18 and over 55, it disclosed that 763 tend to wait as long as possible to see their doctor if they have any health symptoms or an injury, 904 who are married or in a domestic partnership would rather go shopping with their wife or significant other than go to the doctor, 717 would go for their annual check-up if convenient for them, and 835 opt to help in the household chores such as lawn mowing or bathroom cleaning than seek the doctor.

Moreover, the US research found out that 235 do not divulge all to their doctor, 109 are embarrassed to be honest, 235 do not want any diet/lifestyle modifications, 235 know something is wrong but are petrified to know the real score of their health, 481 were told as children that men must not make a big fuss about their health, 963 try to live healthily for the sake of their family and loved ones while 481 of the 963 engage in preventive health.

“Culturally, we know firsthand that our male population is less comfortable speaking up when they have a healthcare concern, which could be a recurrent headache to an issue with basic bodily functions,” said Cleveland Clinic-Abu Dhabi-Surgical Subspecialities Institute chairperson Dr. Bashir Sankari.

His colleague and fellow urologist Dr. Zaki Almallah said: “Men tend to feel a great burden when it comes to health issues. There is pressure to live up to the idea of being strong, independent and to fill the role of provider and protector of their family.”