Men less likely to attribute lifestyle choices to chronic disease, cancer: study

A man smoking a cigarette. (file)

EDMONTON -

A study by the University of Alberta says men are less likely than women to connect personal behaviour to cancer and chronic diseases.

Researchers examined results from 1,200 Albertans who responded to a 2016 survey about chronic disease prevention.

Survey takers were asked about personal behaviours including smoking, drinking, eating unhealthy foods and lack of exercise, and how much they believed those activities contributed to cancer and chronic disease.

"Men, compared to women, were less likely to link alcohol use and physical activity to either increasing or reducing their risk for cancer and chronic disease," said U of A post-doctoral fellow Kimberley Curtin.

Researchers tracked the relationships between socio-demographic factors such as age, sex, education, employment status, income and perceptions about causes and responsibilities for chronic diseases and cancer.

"Men were also more likely than women to think that cancer was not preventable and we should focus on treatment."

According to Curtin, the findings affect the way public health education programs and policies are developed.

"I think the main message is we need to improve our messaging to different socio-economic groups," said Curtin.

"We really need to understand what the connections are between things like political affiliation and sex and income and then we can get a better contextual picture of what types of messages work best for different groups of people."