British men 40% more likely to die from cancer than women
Last Updated: Monday, June 15, 2009 | 11:44 AM ET
CBC News
British men are almost 40 per cent more likely than women to die from cancer — and stereotypical behaviours like playing down early symptoms may be part of the reason, a new report suggests.
Researchers at the National Cancer Intelligence Network and Cancer Research U.K. released a report Monday that concludes British men are 16 per cent more likely than women to develop the disease in the first place.
The researchers looked at cancer as a whole, taking age into account while comparing men to women. When they excluded gender-specific malignancies like prostate and ovarian cancer and also lung cancer (since the disease and its main risk factor, smoking, are known to be more common in men), the gender gap became more much more pronounced.
Once those cancers were excluded, the researchers found that for each type of cancer except melanoma, men were almost 70 per cent more likely to die from the disease than women.
"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," Prof. David Forman of NCIN said in a release.
"Men have a reputation for having a 'stiff upper lip' and not being as health-conscious as women," he said.
"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. Late diagnosis makes most forms of the disease harder to treat."
Lack of awareness
The report looked at the number of cancer deaths in the United Kingdom in 2007 (80,907 in men and 74,557 in women) and the number of new cases of cancer in 2006, broken down by cancer type.
"The evidence shows that men are generally not aware that, as well as smoking, carrying excess weight around the waist, having a high alcohol intake and a poor diet, and their family history all contribute to their increased risk of developing and dying prematurely from cancer, but more research needs to be done before we can be sure exactly why this gender gap exists," said Alan White, professor of men's health at Leeds Metropolitan University and chair of the Men's Health Forum, which is marking Men's Health Week in the United Kingdom.
Delays in reporting symptoms to a doctor could be fuelling the gender gap in cancer deaths, said Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research U.K.
