One in Four Male Students Used No Health Services in a Year, Professor Says Result Is Surprisingly Positive

More than one in four male students did not use any health service during the 2023-24 academic year, according to a new register study by Finland’s Social Insurance Institution, Kela. The research examined students enrolled in undergraduate programmes and counted visits across a broad range of services.

The study included Finland’s Student Health Service, health centres, emergency departments, specialist outpatient care, occupational health services and private doctors. Overall, female students used care more often: 87% had used at least one of the listed services, compared with 71% of male students. One in four women visited a Student Health Service doctor, while the figure for men was one in eight.

The gender gap also appears in other population groups, Kela senior researcher Mikko Nurminen said. But Mika Gissler, a research professor at Finland’s Institute for Health and Welfare, said he was surprised by the proportion of male students who had sought care. “You could say that it is a really good figure. One might have assumed that it would be much lower,” Gissler said.

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You could say that it is a really good figure. One might have assumed that it would be much lower.

He linked the result partly to education, since people with higher education generally seek health services more readily. He also suggested that young men today may be more health-conscious than earlier generations, with lower smoking and alcohol use and more exercise. Another finding surprised him: mental health did not explain the difference in overall service use. Mental-health visits represented roughly similar shares for male and female students, and more than 40% of Student Health Service visits involved mental health.

Gissler said health systems may be designed more with women than men in mind. Women also receive more statutory regular cancer screenings, although most target older women rather than university students.

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When I think about my own student years, I do not know whether I went anywhere other than dental care.