Citation

Christov V, Kamenov Z, Todorova M, Ivanov L, Tzurakova F. J. Mens Health Gend. 2004; 1(2-3): 191-196.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jmhg.2004.07.007

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Men's health is increasingly seen as an area of concern. In 2003 The European Men's Health Forum commissioned a study on men's health covering 17 Western European countries. The aim of our report is to present data on men's health in Bulgaria, an Eastern European country, and compare this with data from the 17 Western European countries.

METHODS: Statistics published by the Bulgarian Ministry of Health, data from the Bulgarian Heart Study (unpublished) and from the CINDI programme were used.

RESULTS: Evaluation of health risk factors show that 43.6% of Bulgarian men are regular smokers, 62.6% have a BMI exceeding 25 and 48.6% report low physical activity. The data from Bulgaria is similar to that reported for the 17 Western European countries except the ratio of men to women begins to decrease at a younger age and Bulgarian men do not only have a shorter longevity than Bulgarian women but live about 4.5 few years than the lowest limit for men among the Western European countries. Mortality due to suicide is nearly threefold higher in men than in women in Bulgaria.

CONCLUSIONS: Bulgarian men's lifestyle with a higher rate of risk factors such as regular smoking, overweight and obesity and increased serum cholesterol, and the high percent of the men who have a combination of two, three or more risk factors are probably responsible for the shorter life expectancy of Bulgarian men. © 2004 WPMH GmbH. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Language: en

Keywords

Risk factors; adult; human; suicide; Mortality; male; evaluation; Europe; lifestyle; mortality; Lifespan; article; major clinical study; controlled study; statistical analysis; health program; sex ratio; smoking; priority journal; age distribution; health status; lifespan; demography; data analysis; cardiovascular risk; Bulgarian men