Men are too busy to visit the doctor: study

Washington: Men are more likely to make excuses for not going to the doctor, according to researchers including one of Indian-origin, who found that the top excuse males make is that they are too busy to visit a physician.

The survey also showed that the second most common excuse men make is that they are afraid of finding out something might be wrong with them, researchers said.

Men also say that they are uncomfortable with certain body exams such as prostate checks, which is the third excuse, according to the survey.

"Men can spend 34 hours golfing or watching a ball game every week, or find the time to take a trip to Vegas with their buddies, but they cannot spare 90 minutes a year to get a check up? That is inexcusable," said Jamin Brahmbhatt, a
urologic robotic surgeon from PUR Clinic in the US.

The life expectancy for men is at least five years less than it is for women, researchers said.

"One of the biggest reasons for those statistics, is that women are much more proactive about their health than men," said Brahmbhatt.

"We often use the analogy that our bodies are a lot like our cars. Men will take the time to do preventative maintenance on their cars, like getting tuneups and oil changes, but for whatever reason, we often do not take the same care of our bodies," he said.