Introduction

Article Outline

• Copyright

Men’s health arose as a focused global health issue in the 1990s. In the United Kingdom a Men’s Health Forum was established in 1994. That same year the first national Men’s Health Week was initiated in the United States. In Canada a Toronto Men’s Health Network was established in 2000. The impetus for this movement is less identifiable than that of women’s health which emerged as an initiative, in part, from the feminist movement of the 1960s. However, the recognition that men compared to women are 1) less likely to seek health care, 2) die at an earlier age, 3) engage in unhealthy behaviors and 4) suffer from higher rates of cardiovascular disease suggests more attention be placed on men’s health care, and outcomes analyses should consider sex as a key variable.

Even the most common cancer in men, prostate cancer, was less understood than its female counterpart, breast cancer, through the 1980s. Certainly the appearance of sildenafil in the marketplace in 1998 helped the men’s health movement gain momentum. Not surprisingly, industry has embraced men’s health as a major issue with the advent of newer drug therapies for benign prostatic hyperplasia, overactive bladder, erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation. The political correctness of the moniker “men’s health” is apparent from the names of journals or magazines with those words in the title (Men’s Health, International Journal of Men’s Health, American Journal of Men’s Health and Journal of Men’s Health, to name a few).

In this supplement the Editors have chosen to revisit some recently highly cited articles previously published in The Journal of Urology® on topics related to benign and malignant genitourinary disorders in men. To help the reader place these articles into a larger context and focus on key issues, commentaries have been provided by world experts. For some disorders such as localized prostate cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia and erectile dysfunction, urologists have greater and usually less invasive choices of treatments. Other conditions, such as prostatitis/male pelvic pain syndrome and overactive bladder with urge incontinence, remain a black box, are poorly understood and are often ineffectively managed. And still some conditions, such as lower urinary tract symptoms due to benign prostatic hyperplasia and erectile dysfunction, may share common pathophysiology and treatment. On behalf of the Editors of The Journal of Urology I hope that readers enjoy this special compendium of articles and commentaries devoted to men’s health.