Rates of most types of cancer are higher in men than in women for reasons that are unclear. Results from a recent study published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, suggest 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. To investigate, Sarah S. Jackson, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, and her colleagues, assessed differences in cancer risk for each of 21 cancer sites among 171,274 male and 122,826 female adults.
Men had an increased risk of most cancers even after adjusting for a wide range of risk behaviors and carcinogenic exposures.
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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.
“Our results show that there are differences in cancer incidence that are not explained by environmental exposures alone. This suggests that there are intrinsic biological differences between men and women that affect susceptibility to cancer,” said Dr. Jackson.
