DOCTORS in East Lancs are urging men to seek medical advice more promptly and not to “die of embarrassment”.

This week is Men’s Health Week, and the Men’s Health Forum is focusing its 2012 campaign on the biggest single cause of male premature death – coronary heart disease.

It has been found that not many men realise that recurrent erectile dysfunction is one of the clearest indicators of cardiac problems.

Through its You Only Live Once campaign, the Forum is urging men to overcome their embarrassment and visit their GP if they are experiencing problems.

Dr Mike Ions, chair of East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “There is a very real culture among a lot of men about not complaining and not going to see the doctor for all kinds of problems, and when the matter is something intimate like erectile dysfunction, they are often even more reluctant to ask for help: this is what we want to change.”

Almost 21,000 men under the age of 75 die from coronary heart disease in the UK every year.