Being a man bad for health, says study

BEING a man can be seriously bad for your health - at any age, it was claimed yesterday.

Long after the dangerous excesses of youth, men are more likely to die prematurely than women, researchers found. The study, which spanned 20 countries, shows for the first time how much bigger the risk of premature death is for men than women, whatever their age.

In the US in 1998, for example, men up to the age of 50 were twice as likely to die than women. And the risk remained greater even for men who made it to their 80s and beyond.