Russian Demographics at the Year End
Reports from Russian Sources


Upper House Declares Men's Health Under Threat

MOSCOW, December 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Experts of the Upper House of the Russian parliament have expressed concern over declining health of male population in Russia and called to broaden the practice of preventive medical check-ups with special attention focused on male patients who should be subjected to screening tests to diagnose prostate cancer at an early stage.

Life expectancy for men in Russia is 13 years shorter than for women, and death rates among the male population exceed death rates for women almost fourfold, the experts said. Prostate cancer is the most often found cause of men's early death in Russia. Over the past ten years prostate-related sickness rate made up 126 percent, showing 63 percent growth per 100,000 male citizens.

The number of patients suffering from prostate diseases is sharply growing. Experts have established a link between age factor and sickness rates that varies from 20 percent for men aged 41- 50 to 50 percent for those aged 51-60, and is more than 90 percent for men after 80.

"Problems of men's health have come to the foreground now because they seriously affect the demographic situation," said Svetlana Braun, department chief of the Russian Health and Social Development Ministry.

Upper House Declares Men's Health Under Threat Russia-Dec.2008


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