Cancer Mortality Higher in Men, Study Finds

Non-sex specific cancers should affect men and women equally, but new data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program published by Bobby B. Najari, MD, and colleagues in the Journal of Urology (2013;189:1470-1474) shows that men develop and die more often from these types of cancers. 

Women continue to outlive their male counterparts by five years on average.  The male-to-female relative mortality rate in 2012 was 1.060, indicating that more than 24,000 men died of cancer due to their sex. Men have a 12.6% higher death rate than women for the same cancer type.

The reasons for this are likely quite complex, and due to differences in modifiable risk factors, health care utilization, and intrinsic biological and behavioral differences.

From the July 01, 2013 Issue of Renal and Urology News