[Research] Statistical checkup of Canadian men’s health

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Men’s Health Week aims to heighten awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys. The data suggest that Canadian men may need to do a better job of taking care of themselves, given that they are more likely to die young or die from preventable or avoidable causes than women, more likely to smoke or drink alcohol, and have higher rates of suicide and accidental deaths.

On a more encouraging note, the mortality rate among men for certain cancers has declined, while a majority of men recently reported excellent or very good mental health. 

Males are twice as likely to die from “preventable causes” than females

Avoidable premature mortality, defined as dying before the age of 75 because of a condition that could have been prevented or effectively treated with timely health care, is much more common among males than females. In 2021 for example, the age-standardized premature mortality rates were 376.4 for males and 222.8 for females per 100,000 population of the same sex.

The sex gap is even more pronounced when it comes to “preventable causes of death”—those that could potentially be prevented by avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, and maintaining good nutrition. In 2021, for example, the rates of age-standardized preventable causes of death were 195.4 for males and 93.9 for females per 100,000 population of the same sex.

The disparity in deaths between males and females was lowest for “treatable causes”—deaths that could have been avoided through prevention efforts, such as screening for and effective treatment of an existing disease (65.4 for males and 55.0 for females per 100,000 population of the same sex).

Males are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol and eat fewer fruits and veggies than females

Lifestyle behaviours play an important role in the health outcomes of men.

We asked Canadians if they smoked in 2022 and if so, how often. Among Canadians aged 15 years and older, males were more likely than females to report ever smoking (50.9% versus 43.3%), smoking in the 30 days prior to the survey (12.9% versus 9.1%) or smoking every day (9.1% versus 7.3%).

In 2022, a higher proportion of males aged 12 and over (22.9%) reported heavy drinking than females (16.6%). In 2021, 21.8% of Canadians aged 12 and older reported eating fruits and vegetables five or more times per day, down 10 percentage points from 2015 (31.5%). A higher proportion of females (25.5%) met this requirement compared with males (18.0%).

The prevalence of obesity was the same for females and males (each at 30%) in 2022.

Males are almost three times more likely to die by suicide than females

Accidents or unintentional deaths were the third leading cause of death for males in 2022, with 10,768 deaths. Drug toxicity deaths accounted for two in five accidental deaths. By way of comparison, accidents were the fifth leading cause of death for females at 7,597 deaths.

Suicide was the 10th leading cause of death for males in 2022 at 2,688. This was the lowest number of suicides among males in Canada since the current data series began in 2000. For the first decade and a half of the new millennium, suicide was the seventh leading cause of death among males.

Nevertheless, males were almost three times more likely to die by suicide than females in 2022 (2,688 deaths versus 905).

The mortality rate for lung cancer among males is declining, and there is an encouraging prognosis for prostate cancer when detected early

The age-standardized mortality rate among Canadian males was 204.8 cancer deaths per 100,000 males compared with 154.2 among females in 2022. While cancer remains the leading cause of death among males, progress is being made. For example, the lung cancer mortality rate among males declined from 61.1 to 45.0 per 100,000 males from 2015 to 2022.

When caught early, the prognosis for prostate cancer is even more encouraging. From 2010 to 2017, for example, over half of the prostate cancers (51%) diagnosed were at stage two, while 21% were at stage one. The five-year net survival was close to 100% among men diagnosed with prostate cancer at each of the first three stages.

Men’s perceived mental health is comparable with or better than women’s perceived mental health

Just over half of Canadian men (51.8%) perceived their mental health as excellent or very good during the first quarter of 2024, compared with less than half of Canadian women (44.1%).

Over the same period, men were less likely to report fair or poor perceived mental health than women (17.8% versus 21.5%).

Men in Quebec (59.2%) were most likely to report excellent or very good perceived mental health in the first quarter of 2024, while men in Ontario (20.7%) and Saskatchewan (20.3%) were most likely to report fair or poor perceived mental health.