"There are many fundraisers, commercials and community awareness events about women's cancers, such as breast cancer," said Green. "For example, the National Football League allows players to wear pink during October Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Prostate Cancer Foundation has only recently petitioned the NFL to recognize National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month by allowing players to wear blue in September."

The authors also note that within national government agencies, men's health promotions are lacking. While the National Institutes of Health has an Office of Research on Women's Health, there is no such office for men's health.

Another variable may be that women are more frequent consumers of health care.

"Women generally have more ongoing and routine visits to their primary care doctors than men," said Davis. "They are more likely to be screened during these visits."

The study concluded that when men are provided with the details of screening procedures - who conducts the screening, what men have to do - men were slightly more likely to participate in cancer screening than women.

"This strongly suggests that men will participate in screening when given more information about screening procedures," concluded Davis. "This means that health educators, physicians and community-based organizations should make a concerted effort to educate men on exact screening procedures, explain how cancer is detected, and communicate what to expect during screening."

Source: H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute