Abstract
The American Journal of Men’s Health (AJMH) has a mission “to provide a forum through which the multidisciplinary community of scholars disseminate the state of science regarding men’s health issues focusing on the concept of ‘health’ to improve men’s health status, improve men’s health quality of life, and reduce disparities.” To achieve this mission, the AJMH must continue to call for and focus on not solely the health of men but also on the differentiation and interaction of men and women’s health for those individuals engaged in a heterosexual relationship. For men who are engaged in same-sex relationships, men’s health may be intricately linked to the health of the other individual who may be of the same gender. In addition, some individuals may not be involved in any specific gender relationship but engaged in multiple or no relationships, and this should also be considered in understanding the relationship of men’s health to another individual. As we learn more regarding the epidemiology of men’s health or what we consider the distribution and determinants of men’s health, it is increasingly apparent that we must understand both the differentiation and intricate symbiotic linkages of men’s health to other individuals involved in their life through their primary relationships.
Differentiation of the distribution and determinants of health and illness within populations according to gender and relationships facilitates an understanding of causation/etiology, risk factors, clinical presentation, and clinical response to therapeutic regimens. This information builds the science of men and women’s health to further advance the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention efforts. This information is not only informative at the clinical level in the prevention and treatment of health alterations or illness but also facilitates an understanding of the disease processes within the respective gender population and takes into consideration the impact of relationships on the health of an individual. This permits the development of health care services and programs that promote a differentiation of health care delivery programs that are truly tailored and center on the respective individuality and diversity of the gender presenting. It is my suggestion that the state of men’s health has advanced through the study and analysis of gender differentiation within the health and illness spectrum. However, to continue to advance the development of the state of men’s health, we need to increase focus on the symbiotic primary relationship of men to another individual or in the case where there is no other individual to whom there is a relationship.
A symbiotic relationship is generally considered a close and prolonged association between two or more different organisms that may or may not benefit each other. Typically, a symbiotic relationship is one of mutual benefit or dependence. Men’s health state is proposed to be linked in a symbiotic manner to individuals to whom they have a primary relationship. This symbiotic relationship affects the man’s physical, emotional, mental, and social health. In addition, I propose that this relationship has an impact on the male’s lifestyle choices and behaviors. Essentially, this symbiotic relationship affects the causative/etiologic, risk factors, clinical presentation, and eventually the response to primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention efforts. Therefore, I am calling for scientists, educators, and clinicians to consider the individual or individuals who a male engages with in a symbiotic relationship, whether it is of the same or different gender, as an essential factor to integrate into patient-centered men’s health care.