WHY ARE MORE MEN THAN WOMEN LIKELY TO DIE OF CANCER?

The American Cancer Society's comprehensive annual report on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival. It is published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians and is accompanied by a consumer version of the publication, Cancer Facts and Figures 2017. The report estimates that in 2017, there will be higher cancer incidence and mortality rate in men than women.

The report finds significant gender disparities in incidence rate of 20% higher in men than in women, while the cancer death rate is 40% higher in men.

The gender gap in cancer mortality largely reflects disparity in the distribution of cancers that occur in men and women, much of which is due to differences in the prevalence of cancer risk factors.

For example, liver cancer, a highly fatal cancer, is three times more common in men than in women, partly reflecting higher Hepatitis C/B virus infection, historical smoking prevalence, and excess alcohol consumption in men. The largest sex disparities are for cancers of the oesophagus, larynx, and bladder, for which incidence and death rates are about 4times higher in men. Melanoma incidence rates are about 60% higher in men than in women, while melanoma death rates are more than double in men compared to women.

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