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Study Shows Men At Greater Risk For Cancer Than Women

Posted on: Monday, 15 June 2009, 12:40 CDT

Experts say that men dragging their feet to the doctor and being disinclined to take issue with their own health may be factors in the never before seen gender gap when it comes to cancer and deaths.

Cancer Research UK said that of the cancers that affect both sexes, men were found to be 60% more likely to develop the disease and 70% more likely to die from it.

This discrepancy cannot be traced to any biological source, but they believe that it may have something to do with women taking better care of their health.

Experts say that men need to give greater credence to the risks they face.

It is believed that possibly half of all cancers can be prevented through lifestyle changes.

For the latest report, researchers first analyzed data on all cancers from 2006 and 2007.

The results were that overall, men are 40% more likely than women to die from cancer and 16% more likely to initially develop the disease.

Apart from breast cancer and other gender specific cancers, including lung cancer that affects the greater male population of smokers, the difference seen between the sexes was far greater.

The researchers had fully expected to determine that men and women are equally likely to develop and die from the disease.

However, the figures showed that apart from melanoma, women face significantly better odds than men when it comes to be diagnosed with and dying from every one of the specific types of cancer considered.

Professor David Forman, information lead for the National Cancer Intelligence Network, which assisted in executing the research, said: "For many of the types of cancer we looked at that affect both sexes, there's no known biological reason why men should be at a greater risk than women, so we were surprised to see such consistent differences."

"Men have a reputation for having a 'stiff upper lip' and not being as health conscious as women,” he added.

"What we see from this report could be a reflection of this attitude, meaning men are less likely to make lifestyle changes that could reduce their risk of the disease and less likely to go to their doctor with cancer symptoms."

Chairman of the Men's Health Forum, Professor Alan White, said that men proved to be less aware of the contributing factors of cancer such as smoking, carrying excess weight around the waist, having a high alcohol intake, a poor diet and family history.

However, he said more research was needed to determine the causes behind such a pronounced gender gap, and that services should make a greater effort to educate and facilitate change in men.

In an interview with the BBC, Professor White said, "Men have got a certain degree of responsibility to look to their lifestyle, but the services also have to be reaching out to men.

"If you think that nearly 14 million men work full-time and of those 28% are working over 45 hours, then getting to the services is actually very problematic...and it's not just the GP, it's smoking cessation services, it's weight loss services.”

"I think if you are suffering from something and it's not going away, then get it checked out. That's the simple message."

The government's cancer tsar, Professor Mike Richards, said there was no doubting the gravity of the findings.

Prof Richards told the BBC, "There seems to be no doubt - there is a higher risk of getting cancer and a higher risk of death…that maybe due to different ways of approaching the health services and being less likely to seek help.”

Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: "We know that around half of all cancers could be prevented by changes to lifestyle and it's worrying that this message could be falling on deaf ears for men.”

"Delays in reporting symptoms to a doctor could be helping to fuel this gender gap in cancer mortality,” she added.

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On the Net:

• National Cancer Intelligence Network
• Cancer Research UK

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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