Men are swallowing more and more medicines

Health Report of Techniker Krankenkasse: Men swallow pills more often, women go to the doctor more often

06/07/2011

Women actively take care of their health and, for example, go to the doctor more often than men. But men take more medication and children are increasingly obese and / or depressed due to the increasing lack of exercise. All this is in the new health report of the Techniker health insurance, which has just been presented.

Women go to the doctor more often
Men and women differ, at least in the frequency of visits to the doctor. While women visit the family doctor's office more often, men prefer to use the medicine chest and swallow symptom-soothing pills. On average, according to the Techniker Krankenkasse Frauen (TK) in the last year of 2010 on average 13.6 days per year sick leave incapacitated. Men were on the other hand, according to evaluation, only 11.3 days sick leave. Twenty-three percent of women are more likely to be bedridden when ill than men. While men make an average of 2.5 medical appointments a year, women go to the medical or family doctor about 3.4 times a year.

More and more people resort to medicines
Drug use has increased significantly, especially among men. According to the TK, every man took an average of 184 days for a drug last year. Ten years ago, drug use was still 29 percent lower. In around half of the cases, men resorted to cardiovascular drugs such as beta-blockers. Medications for metabolic therapies ranked second with 14 percent. The proportion of cardiovascular drugs in women was 22 percent, followed by hormonal drugs at 17 percent.

Men are most likely to suffer from back pain
The most frequent sick leave suffered men due to back pain, respiratory problems and cardiovascular problems such as hypertension or heart attack. According to the TK-Kasse, the most frequent triggers of the symptoms and illnesses were smoking, excessive stress, unhealthy diet and too little physical activity. In comparison, women showed a significant increase in mental illnesses such as depression, burnout, schizophrenia and phobias.

Children are increasingly suffering from obesity and motor deficits
According to a recent study by the German Employees' Health Insurance Fund DAK, children today increasingly suffer from obesity. The reasons for this are quickly found. Physical education is becoming more and more common in schools. Children and adolescents spend an ever increasing number of hours in front of the TV and the computer. According to the DAK experts, this has significantly worsened the health of children in the last ten years. An absolute majority of pediatricians (97 percent) in Germany complain of a sudden increase in behavioral problems such as depression or ADHD. „Children become more and more likely to suffer from mental illness“. In addition, children in elementary school are already severely overweight and suffer from motor deficits due to the unilateral media funding. (Sb)