Knowing about cancer and how it can be prevented or detected early is the first step in decreasing your risk of dying from this disease. Lifestyle is a very important contributing factor to your individual risk; genetics or family history and ethnicity can also influence risk. The types that most frequently affect men are skin, prostate, lung and colon cancers.

HAP is committed to providing evidenced-based screening recommendations, for our members.

Risk Factors:

• Lung Cancer
  • Smoking or chewing tobacco products
  • Smoking marijuana
  • Secondhand smoke
  • Exposure to: asbestos, radon, uranium, arsenic or vinyl chloride

• Skin Cancer:
  • Sunbathing or participating in outdoor sports without sunscreen
  • Using tanning beds
  • Fair skin, blonde or red hair
  • Having a lot of moles
  • Family history

• Colorectal Cancer:
  • Family History
  • Intestinal polyps
  • Over 50 years of age
  • Eating a lot of red meat or lunchmeat
  • Sedentary lifestyle
  • Overweight or Obese
  • Using tobacco
  • Daily alcohol consumption of >2 drinks per day

• Prostate Cancer:
  • Over age 50
  • African American
  • Consume a lot of saturated fat foods
  • Overweight
  • Family History

• Testicular Cancer:
  • There is no conclusive evidence detailing a specific set of risk factors for this rare cancer. More Information

Support:

We hear a lot of promotion for support groups regarding women’s cancers, you may be surprised to know there are several for men too. Locally, Gilda’s club of Metro Detroit has a special “men only” support group. Contact them at (248) 577-0800 for more information.

The American Cancer Society offers the "Man to Man" program for prostate cancer survivors. Their "I Can Cope" program offers reliable information, peer support and coping help to patients and their families.

The American Institute for Cancer Research offers research-based nutritional guidelines for survivors.