Men’s health: A guide to men’s health screenings in Singapore
From heart disease to high blood pressure, it’s essential that men own their health (even if they don’t want anyone touching their bottom)
Text: Christian Barker
For all the jokes about men loudly exaggerating the effects of “man flu”, males are far more likely to suffer an illness in silence. Taught to ‘man up’ and ‘cope with it’ from boyhood, many males leave visiting a doctor and having a proper health screening in Singapore until it’s way too late, allowing mental health issues to progress to dangerous levels and physical ailments to be diagnosed at an advanced stage, making effective treatment much more difficult.
Waiting until you’re in excruciating pain to visit a doctor is not only masochistic — it’s counterproductive. Catching an illness early tends to vastly increase your chances of straightforward treatment and recovery. This is particularly true for maladies men commonly suffer from, such as testicular cancer, melanoma, heart disease, prostate cancer and type 2 diabetes.
Diseases such as these can often show few physical symptoms in the early stages, making it important for men to proactively health screen for potential problems.
Young blood
Health screenings for men under 40 generally involve simple blood, urine and physical tests and can be completed at very low cost, so there’s really no reason to shy from regular checkups during your 20s and 30s.
No matter how invincible you feel at that age, it’s wise to gauge blood pressure at least every couple of years and check cholesterol from age 35. You’ll want to test for diabetes if there’s a family history, if your blood pressure is 130/80mm Hg or higher, or if your body mass index (BMI) is above 25 (meaning you’re technically overweight).
Depending upon how sexually active you are — in all likelihood, the answer in your 20s and 30s will be “quite” — you may wish to be tested for sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, chlamydia and HIV. A one-time test for Hepatitis C is also advisable for every adult, as the infected often don’t display symptoms and long-term infection can result in scarring of the liver or cirrhosis.
Though testicular cancer is relatively uncommon, representing just 1% of the cancers suffered by males, it most often appears in younger men, aged 15 to 49. Regularly self-check the shape of your testes and if you feel any lumps or other abnormalities, don’t be shy about asking your GP to take a look. That’s the ballsy move.
Skin cancers are far more prevalent, especially among those who’ve spent a lot of time in the great outdoors while growing up. Again, regular self-examination of the skin (we like this handy how-to guide from the Cancer Council of Australia) is key to catching carcinomas and melanomas early. Sun worshippers and the pale skinned should think about visiting a dermatologist for a professional check-up annually.
Men’s health beyond 40
After the age of 40, a man needs to be more conscious of potential health problems. In addition to continuing with regular skin, blood pressure, blood sugar / diabetes and cholesterol checks, consult with your GP about when to begin screening for prostate cancer and how often you’ll need to be screened. This varies depending upon your risk factors (such as incidences in the family), but often starts in the late 40s.
Simple prostate cancer testing can be done via a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test, however a digital rectal exam (DRE) may also be necessary. Yes, to be frank, the latter involves your doctor putting his finger up your butt. Understandably, anyone’s going be squeamish about that, but it’s a far better alternative than unknowingly allowing prostate cancer to grow life-threatening — that’d be a real pain in the ass.
While we’re down there, men also become more at risk of colorectal cancer as we age. From 50 onward, experts advise that you should undergo screening for colon cancer. This can be done via a fecal test, or the more invasive (but more revealing) means of a colonoscopy. This method is deemed best for finding danger signs and catching cancer before it develops.
Cardiovascular diseases are the top killer globally. Blood tests for cholesterol and triglyceride lipid levels will help predict risks of a heart attack or stroke — the cause of one in three deaths in Singapore. But a coronary artery calcium score (CAC) test via CT scan has proven the best identifier of individuals at most severe risk of suffering these events, as it shows the actual presence of heart disease.
Middle-aged men may wish to undergo an array of additional screenings, depending upon their risk factors and the lives they’ve led: liver function tests for those who enjoy the odd frosty beverage, for instance, or chest scans for the current or former tobacco aficionado.
To ascertain your particular requirements, consult with your doctor. Regularly and openly chatting with your GP is the best thing you can do, in fact. Among men, unfortunately it’s all too rare. A 2019 British study found that around 80% of males would choose to simply endure an illness rather than seek help. Don’t be that guy. That’s not macho. It’s just dumb, man.
