(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A new study looks at guys being guys and what that means for their heart health.
The study published in October’s JAMA Network Open contends that when guys are exhibiting standard male behavior like independence, strength and denying weakness or vulnerability, it can lead them to ignore warning signs, doctor’s diagnosis of heart trouble or even recommendations of ways to prevent heart disease.
UChicago Medicine Dr. Nathaniel Glasser, a general internist and pediatrician, is the lead study author.
“It’s previously been observed that these sort of features have a kind of chilling effect on any form of help-seeking and oftentimes can lead to efforts to sort of reject recommendations for help and assistance,” he says.
Dr. Glasser says that, for many men, embarrassment or shame or not fitting in as a man is worse or more threatening to them than heart disease or death.
Dr. Glasser says heart conditions like high blood pressure, poorly controlled blood sugar and high cholesterol are preventable conditions but that men who exhibit stereotypical male behaviors don’t always go right away for medical help or follow doctor’s recommendations. He says they feel like they have to show their strength or portray to everyone they’re fine.
“That’s the hypothesis is that it might convey weakness or lack of independence or lack of resilience.”
Dr. Glasser says that, because of any delays in seeking or getting medical help, many men wind up with worse heart conditions than they otherwise would have had.
The study involved thousands of men who are now early middle age. They’ve been part of a study since they were 12 to 18 years old.
Glasser and his fellow authors analyzed data from Add Health, a nationally representative, longitudinal study that collected health measurements and survey responses from more than 12,300 men and women at different points over a 24 year period, from 1994 through 2018.
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