Men's Health Week 2026: What the Numbers Say and Why They Matter

Men's Health Week 2026 runs from 15 to 21 June. It falls, as it always does, in the week leading up to Father's Day, and that timing is deliberate. This is a week designed not to celebrate, but to confront. The gap between men's and women's health outcomes remains one of the clearest patterns in UK public health data, and it is not closing fast enough.

This post looks at the physical health side of that gap. Not mental health, not resilience frameworks, not wellness trends. The statistics on heart disease, cancer, premature death, and why so many men continue to arrive at a diagnosis later than they should.

It also looks at what you can do. Some of that is lifestyle. Some is knowing when to see a doctor. And some is something most people never think about until they are standing next to someone who has collapsed: knowing enough first aid to act.

The Headline Figures

The Men's Health Forum notes that one in five men in the UK dies before the age of 65.^[1] That figure has been quoted for years, but it still has weight. It means that in a room of five men, the statistical expectation is that one of them will not make it to retirement age. Not because of bad luck, but largely because of conditions that are preventable, diagnosable, or treatable if caught in time.

Healthy life expectancy in the UK now stands at 60.7 years for males, according to the Office for National Statistics.^[2] That means, on average, men are living the last 15 or so years of their lives in poor health. The measure is not simply about lifespan. It is about quality of life, independence, and the capacity to work, care for others, and do the things that make life worth living.

Healthy life expectancy for males fell by 1.8 years between 2019 to 2021 and 2022 to 2024.^[2] That decline reflects the long shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also exposes how little reserve exists in men's health before external pressures tip the balance.

The important point is that many of the biggest causes of premature death in men are neither rare nor unpredictable. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are often detectable years before they become emergencies. That is what makes the gap between current outcomes and what is achievable so frustrating.

Heart Disease: Still the Biggest Killer

Cardiovascular disease is not a new problem. It is a persistent one. The statistics from the British Heart Foundation make the scale plain.

Men develop coronary heart disease around ten years earlier than women on average. Oestrogen provides some cardiovascular protection before menopause, meaning male heart disease risk tends to rise earlier and often without obvious symptoms.

Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

There are approximately 115,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests reported to ambulance services in the UK each year.^[5] Most happen at home. Around 80 per cent occur in the patient's usual place of residence.^[4] Survival rates remain low. Thirty-day survival in England stands at 13.2 per cent.^[5]

The reasons for low survival are well understood. Time is the critical variable. For every minute that passes without CPR or defibrillation, the chance of survival falls. Members of the public performed CPR in over 70 per cent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases in England in 2023-24, but a public-access defibrillator was used in fewer than 10 per cent of cases.^[4] Both figures are improving, but the gap between bystander CPR rates and AED use is striking. The devices exist. The awareness of how to find and use them does not yet match.

Early CPR and defibrillation can more than double the chances of surviving a cardiac arrest.^[6] That is not a theoretical improvement. It is the difference between a family that gets someone back and one that does not.

Recognising a Heart Attack

A heart attack is not the same as a cardiac arrest, though one can lead to the other. A heart attack occurs when blood supply to part of the heart muscle is blocked. The heart does not necessarily stop. The person may be conscious, in pain, and frightened.

The symptoms can include:

• chest pain, pressure, tightness or squeezing, particularly in the centre of the chest
• pain radiating into one or both arms, the jaw, neck, back or stomach
• breathlessness
• nausea, sweating or feeling faint
• a general sense of being severely unwell

 Men tend to present with the classical symptoms more often than women do. That should make recognition easier. In practice, many men wait. They attribute chest discomfort to indigestion or muscle strain and delay calling 999. Earlier treatment dramatically improves survival rates after a heart attack, yet many people still hold back from calling for help. That delay costs lives that do not need to be lost.

If you want to go deeper on symptoms, warning signs and what to do while waiting for the ambulance, our full guide covers heart attack recognition and first aid in detail: The Heart Attack: What It Is, What It Feels Like, and What to Do

Prostate Cancer: The Most Common Cancer in England

Prostate cancer became the most common cancer in England in January 2025.^[7] In 2023, 55,033 men received a prostate cancer diagnosis in England alone, overtaking breast cancer as the single most diagnosed cancer.^[7] The disease has been rising for years. Awareness campaigns and increasing willingness among men to request PSA tests have driven some of the increase in diagnosed cases, which is, on balance, a good thing. Finding cancer is better than not finding it.

The problem is what happens before diagnosis. Prostate cancer is often asymptomatic in its earlier stages. There is no national screening programme. NHS guidelines have historically prevented GPs from proactively discussing the PSA test with men at highest risk. That left many men relying on symptoms to drive them into a consultation, by which point the disease may already have spread.

Healthwatch research published in 2025 found that 79 per cent of men said they would attend a prostate screening appointment if the NHS introduced a routine programme.^[8] The reluctance, in other words, is not as entrenched as many assume. Men will engage with their health when a clear invitation and a clear pathway are on offer.

Bowel Cancer

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK and the second most common cause of cancer death. Men have a slightly higher incidence rate than women. The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme invites adults aged 50 to 74 in England to complete a home stool test kit every two years. Participation rates remain below target, and the symptoms of bowel cancer, including changes in bowel habit, blood in the stool or unexplained weight loss, are often dismissed or ignored by men who find them uncomfortable to discuss.

If you are in the eligible age group and have received a screening kit, use it. If you have symptoms that concern you, go to your GP. These conversations are not difficult for a doctor to have. The delay costs lives.

The GP Gap: Men and Primary Care

The assertion that men avoid doctors is widely repeated. The data broadly supports it. The 2022 GP Patient Survey for England found that 38 per cent of males had made a GP appointment in the previous three months, compared to 48 per cent of females.^[9] Twenty-seven per cent of males reported that their most recent GP appointment was more than 12 months ago, versus 18 per cent of females. And three times as many males as females had not had a GP appointment in the past five years.^[9]

Men are also less likely to attend NHS Health Checks, which are available to adults aged 40 to 74 and designed to detect risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and stroke.^[9] A review of almost 100 studies found that in most cases where sex differences were examined, men were less likely to attend.^[9]

The consequence of this pattern is late presentation. Conditions that are manageable when caught early become harder to treat when they have progressed. Men of working age are statistically consulting their GP later in the course of an illness, and that pattern shapes outcomes across the full range of conditions that affect them.

The reasons for low GP attendance are debated. Cultural expectations around self-reliance, time pressure, discomfort discussing health symptoms, and a tendency to minimise symptoms all play a role. The Men's Health Forum has spent years advocating for a men's health strategy that would address this systematically. Following Men's Health Week 2025, the government announced a men's health strategy for the NHS. The implementation will matter more than the announcement.

Risk Factors: The Modifiable Ones

Much of the premature death and ill health that characterises men's health statistics is driven by conditions and behaviours that can be changed. That does not mean they are easy to change, but it does mean they are worth naming directly.

Obesity and Physical Inactivity

Sixty-four per cent of adults in England are now classified as overweight or obese.^[10] Obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and several cancers, including bowel and kidney cancer. Physical inactivity compounds all of those risks. Reducing BMI and increasing physical activity are not abstract lifestyle aspirations. They are the most effective non-clinical interventions available for reducing premature death from the conditions that kill most men early.

Smoking

Smoking is estimated to account for around 13,000 cardiovascular deaths per year in England.^[11] Rates are higher in men than women. NHS Stop Smoking services, varenicline, and nicotine replacement therapy all outperform willpower alone. If you smoke, stopping is the single most impactful decision you can make for your cardiovascular health.

Blood Pressure and Cholesterol

Hypertension and raised cholesterol cause no noticeable symptoms while quietly damaging blood vessels and raising the risk of heart attack and stroke. Both are detectable through simple tests available via an NHS Health Check. Men who are not attending GP appointments are not having those tests, and that is where silent conditions become serious ones.

What First Aid Has to Do With Any of This

First aid does not prevent heart disease. It cannot lower your cholesterol or persuade you to attend a GP appointment. What it can do is make a decisive difference in the minutes before an ambulance arrives.

Given that two thirds of cardiac arrests happen in men,^[4] and that around 80 per cent happen at home,^[4] the people most likely to be present when a man has a cardiac arrest are the people who live with him or who happen to be nearby. Family members. Colleagues. Friends. People with no medical training and no warning.

Early CPR and defibrillation more than doubles survival chances.^[6] The Chain of Survival, which describes the sequence of actions from recognising a cardiac arrest to advanced medical care, places bystander CPR as its second critical link. Without it, the chain breaks before professional help arrives. With it, the odds change significantly.

Bystander CPR was performed in over 70 per cent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in England in 2023-24.^[4] That proportion has been growing, partly because CPR training has expanded. Schools in England, Scotland and Wales now include first aid in the curriculum. But school-age training is not reaching the population of adults who have never learned, or who learned 20 years ago and have not refreshed their knowledge.

Knowing how to perform hands-only CPR is not difficult. The barrier is usually not capability. It is confidence. People freeze because they are not sure they remember the technique, not sure they are doing it correctly, and not sure they have permission to act. A first aid course removes all three of those barriers. It gives you a structure, a memory, and the knowledge that acting is always better than standing back.

What to Do in a Cardiac Emergency

The steps below are an orientation, not a replacement for hands-on training. A first aid course covers technique, confidence, and the situational judgement that a list of steps cannot fully convey. With that said, if you are faced with someone who has collapsed and is unresponsive:

1. Check for danger, then approach and check for a response.
2. Shout for help. Call 999 or ask someone to call while you begin.
3. Tilt the head back, lift the chin, check for normal breathing.
4. If not breathing normally, begin chest compressions: push hard and fast in the centre of the chest, aiming for 100 to 120 compressions per minute.
5. Send someone to find a defibrillator. Use it as soon as it is available. The device will guide you through the process.
6. Continue until the ambulance arrives, the person recovers, or you are unable to continue.

Public-access defibrillators can be found using the defibfinder.uk website (check now where your nearest defib is, so you know) or by asking the 999 operator.

If you want to know exactly what to do when someone collapses, our step-by-step guide walks through CPR, AED use and how to manage the situation while waiting for the ambulance: If Someone Collapses: What to Do Before the Ambulance Arrives

A Government Commitment and What Needs to Come Next

Men's Health Week 2025 produced a tangible result. Following the week, the government announced its intention to develop a men's health strategy for the NHS.^[1] That followed years of advocacy from the Men's Health Forum and other organisations, and it mirrors the women's health strategy already in place.

A strategy is only as useful as its implementation. What needs to follow is measurable: better GP attendance rates for men of working age, a proactive approach to identifying men at risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, expanded access to NHS Health Checks, and an honest conversation about why men continue to die earlier than they should from conditions that are largely preventable.

Some of that requires systemic change. But not all of it. Some of it requires individual decisions: book the appointment you have been putting off, do not dismiss symptoms that concern you, make time for the NHS Health Check if you are eligible, and consider whether you have the skills to act if someone near you has a cardiac emergency.

First Aid Training With Constellation Training

Knowing how to respond in a medical emergency is one of the most practical steps you can take this Men's Health Week. Constellation Training delivers regulated first aid courses across the UK, accredited by FAIB.

Courses cover recognition of cardiac emergencies, CPR, AED use, and a range of other life-threatening situations. Whether you are arranging training for a workplace, community organisation or team, the skills people learn on a first aid course can make the difference between life and death for someone they care about.

Book a first aid course with Constellation Training

References

[1] Men's Health Forum. Men's Health Week 2025 and government men's health strategy announcement. Available at: https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/mhw [Accessed May 2026].

[2] Office for National Statistics. Healthy life expectancy, UK: between 2011 to 2013 and 2022 to 2024. Released 19 February 2026. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/bulletins/healthstatelifeexpectanciesuk/between2011to2013and2022to2024

[3] British Heart Foundation. Cardiovascular Disease Statistics: England Factsheet. September 2025. Available at: https://www.bhf.org.uk

[4] British Heart Foundation. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates remain low in England. January 2024. Available at: https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/news-from-the-bhf/news-archive/2024/january/out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest-survival-rates-remain-low-in-england-latest-data-shows

[5] Resuscitation Council UK. Epidemiology of cardiac arrest. 2025 Resuscitation Guidelines. Available at: https://www.resus.org.uk/professional-library/2025-resuscitation-guidelines/epidemiology-cardiac-arrest-guidelines

[6] British Heart Foundation. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests: early CPR and defibrillation. Available at: https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-public-affairs/influencing-change-in-healthcare-systems/out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrests

[7] Prostate Cancer UK. Prostate cancer now the most common cancer in the UK. January 2026. Available at: https://prostatecanceruk.org/about-us/news-and-views/2026/01/prostate-most-common-cancer

[8] Healthwatch England. Men would come forward for prostate cancer screening. October 2025. Available at: https://www.healthwatch.co.uk/blog/2025-10-08/men-would-come-forward-prostate-cancer-screening

[9] Baker R. Missing persons? Men's use of primary care services. Trends in Urology and Men's Health. 2024. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tre.950

[10] UK Government. Health trends and variation in England, 2025 (Chief Medical Officer Report). Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-trends-and-variation-in-england-2025-a-chief-medical-officer-report

[11] British Heart Foundation. Cardiovascular Disease Statistics: England Factsheet. September 2025. Available at: https://www.bhf.org.uk