Rates of most types of cancer are higher in men than in women for reasons that are unclear.
Scientists from the National Institutes of Health found that the cause may be underlying biological sex differences rather than behavioral differences related to smoking, alcohol use, diet, and other factors.
Understanding the reasons for sex differences in cancer risk could provide important information to improve prevention and treatment.
In the study, the team assessed differences in cancer risk for each of 21 cancer sites among 171,274 male and 122,826 female adults aged 50–71 years who were participating in an NIH- Diet and Health study from 1995–2011.
During that time, 17,951 new cancers arose in men and 8,742 in women. Incidence was lower in men than women only for thyroid and gallbladder cancers, and risks were 1.3- to 10.8-times higher in men than women for other types of cancer.
The greatest increased risks in men were seen for esophageal cancer (a 10.8-times higher risk), larynx (a 3.5-times higher risk), gastric cardia (a 3.5-times higher risk), and bladder cancer (a 3.3-times higher risk).
Men had an increased risk of most cancers even after adjusting for a wide range of risk behaviors and carcinogenic exposures.
The findings suggest that biological differences between sexes—such as physiological, immunological, genetic, and other differences—play a major role in the cancer susceptibility of men versus women.
Researchers suggest that strategically including sex as a biological variable should be enforced along the whole cancer continuum from risk prediction and cancer primary prevention, cancer screening and secondary prevention, to cancer treatment and patient management.
If you care about cancer, please read studies about how to reduce pancreatic cancer spread by nearly 90%, and scientists find new strategy to treat advanced prostate cancer.
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The research was published in Cancer and conducted by Sarah S. Jackson et al.
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