October 2024
Men remain less likely than women to engage with preventive healthcare and face well-documented stigma around mental and sexual health, while prostate cancer, the most common male cancer in the UK, continues to present late in a significant proportion of cases. This cross-sectional online survey of 356 adult men (conducted by DR.VEGAN®, 2024) was designed to quantify the gap between health concern and help-seeking across 16 health domains and to assess prostate health literacy, screening uptake, psychological burden, and support-pathway accessibility. Respondents were predominantly over 40 (75.0%), White (91.0%), and physically active (73.3% exercising ≥2 hours weekly). Individual-level data were analysed for all 356 responses; concern, priority, and help-seeking measures were captured per domain, enabling direct within-respondent comparison of concern prevalence against action taken.
Concern was near-universal (94.1% reported at least one domain), but action was not: combined help-seeking (online research plus professional consultation) peaked at 33.7% (gut health) and exceeded 30% in only three domains. The gap widened systematically toward stigmatised conditions: libido and erectile dysfunction recorded the lowest help-seeking of any domain (9.3% and 10.1%), driven by near-absent professional consultation (1.4% and 3.7%). Figure 1 presents the full gradient.
| Health domain | % reporting concern | % ranking top-3 concern | % seeking any help |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental health | 41.6% | 18.0% | 32.3% |
| Gut health and digestive issues | 40.2% | 20.8% | 33.7% |
| Anxiety | 39.6% | 20.5% | 30.6% |
| Issues sleeping | 34.3% | 13.5% | 20.2% |
| Weight management | 33.1% | 14.9% | 23.0% |
| Prostate health | 31.5% | 18.8% | 24.4% |
| Heart and cardiovascular health | 29.5% | 15.2% | 22.5% |
| Depression | 28.9% | 12.1% | 22.2% |
| Libido | 18.8% | 4.2% | 9.3% |
| Erectile dysfunction | 18.3% | 8.7% | 10.1% |
Literacy deficits were substantial across every dimension measured, and screening uptake showed a pronounced inverse age gradient: the never-checked rate was 87.0% at age 30–40 and 80.0% under 30, falling to 21.2% at 61+. Notably, 46.6% of respondents personally knew someone diagnosed with prostate cancer, indicating that proximity to the disease does not of itself translate into literacy or screening. Figure 2 summarises the deficit profile.
| Prostate health literacy / screening measure | % (n=356) |
|---|---|
| Health literacy deficits | |
| Do not know what the prostate does | 29.5% |
| Do not know signs / symptoms of poor prostate health | 27.5% |
| No understanding of dietary / lifestyle / supplement support | 51.7% |
| Risk awareness deficits | |
| Unaware of 1-in-8 lifetime prostate cancer risk | 39.0% |
| Unaware of 1-in-4 risk with affected father / brother | 61.0% |
| Screening uptake — never had any prostate check | |
| Age 30–40 | 87.0% |
| Age under 30 | 80.0% |
| Age 41–50 | 53.8% |
| Age 51–60 | 30.3% |
| Age 61+ | 21.2% |
Lifetime mental health difficulty was reported by 48.6%, rising to 58.1% within the high-stress subgroup (32.9% of the sample) - a 9.5 percentage-point excess that identifies stress as a key co-occurring marker. Support-pathway deficits compound this burden: roughly one in six men would not access professional help and more than one in five would not approach family or friends, while 68.3% judged male suicide awareness efforts inadequate. Sexual health represents the most silent burden: among the 21.3% of men with low or below-average libido, 80.3% worried about it, yet professional consultation remained near zero. Figure 3 presents the combined profile.
| Psychological burden / support measure | % (n=356) |
|---|---|
| Burden | |
| Lifetime experience of mental health issues | 48.6% |
| Current high or overwhelming stress | 32.9% |
| Mental health issues among the high-stress group | 58.1% |
| Support pathway deficits | |
| Would not seek professional help if struggling | 16.6% |
| Would not seek family / friend support if struggling | 22.5% |
| Believe male suicide awareness efforts are insufficient | 68.3% |
| Sexual health — the silent burden | |
| Libido below average or extremely low | 21.3% |
| Worry about libido among the low-libido group | 80.3% |
| Professional consultation rate for libido concerns | 1.4% |
| Professional consultation rate for erectile dysfunction | 3.7% |
This survey quantifies a systematic concern-to-care gap in men’s health that is widest precisely where stigma is greatest and where early intervention offers most value. Three implications follow for clinicians, public health bodies, and product developers. First, sexual health requires destigmatised, low-threshold pathways: the near-zero professional consultation rates for libido and erectile dysfunction — against meaningful concern and worry rates — indicate that demand exists but conventional routes are not being used. Second, prostate health education must be redirected toward men under 50, for whom literacy is lowest, screening rarest, and the modifiable-risk window longest; familiarity with the disease through personal contacts is demonstrably insufficient. Third, the high-stress subgroup carrying a disproportionate mental health burden - a fifth of whom lack any comfortable support route - constitutes an identifiable high-risk population for whom accessible, non-clinical entry points (including digital and nutrition-led engagement) may be the most realistic first step. Prospective research with validated instruments is warranted to track whether targeted interventions can close the gaps quantified here.
Keywords: men’s health, help-seeking behaviour, concern-to-care gap, prostate health literacy, screening uptake, mental health, stress, libido, erectile dysfunction, male suicide awareness
Survey date: 2024 | Sample size: N = 356 | Data: Individual-level responses
Media enquiries: Please contact [email protected]
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