Pension shortage in Lower Austria: Men ignore health checks!

Pension shortage in Lower Austria: Men ignore health checks!

In Austria, the preventive examination is an important topic, but unfortunately the numbers show that men in particular still have to be convinced. According to the information from noe.orf.at and Gesundheitskasse.at climbed out in 2023 Terms health check, at 125,800 in Lower Austria, which corresponds to an increase compared to 29,000 in 1990. Despite this positive development, Lower Austria remains the bottom of Austria, since only 8.9 percent of the population perceived the opportunity to prevent. At the national level, participation in men was only 12 percent in 2022, while in women around 13.6 percent of them took the investigations.

The doctor Dagmar Fedra-Machacek draws attention to the importance of preventive measures. "The early discovery of diseases significantly increases the chances of recovery," she emphasizes. Regular checks that are carried out once a year at general practitioners or in health centers contain extensive examinations, including blood findings and EKGs. In specific studies, mammography is recommended for women aged 40 and over every two years, and men should have their prostate from 50 checked regularly - this early detection is crucial because prostate cancer is among the most common cancer in Austria. From 23,373 male diagnoses in 2020, 6.126 for prostate cancer.

need to catch up in men

There are still considerable need for action among men, as the health insurance company reports. Despite the fact that Austrian men on average are only 63 healthy years of life below the EU average, the awareness of health issues in the area of precaution remains low. Bernhard Wurzer from the Austrian Health Fund emphasizes that the key to combating potential health risks is strengthening consciousness for preventive measures. He still sees enormous potential for improvements in men's health, especially with a view to the future offers of the health insurance company, which will include prostate mrts and coronary CTs in the performance catalog

"Provision is crucial," says Dr. Andreas Krauter, chief physician of the ÖGK, adds that regular preventive examinations can contribute not only to improve the quality of life, but also to effectively combat prostate diseases.