American women are 82% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than men

The American Cancer Society (ACS) has released its annual report, which revealed a disturbing shift in cancer demographics in the United States. The report found that there has been a drastic increase in cancer diagnoses in younger women.

According to the ACS's report, incidence rates among women under the age of 50 were 82% higher than they were for men of the same age group in 2021, up from 51% in 2002. Furthermore, women between the ages of 50-64 are also getting cancer at higher rates than men.

However, as NPR highlights, the American Cancer Society's report also found that while there has been a nasty increase in the number of women being diagnosed with cancer, death from cancer has declined in the United States by 34% between 1991 and 2022.

Unfortunately, these gains are at risk due to the rising incidence of cancers with earlier onset in individuals under 65. This group was traditionally not considered at high risk for developing the disease.

In a statement collected by NPR, Rebecca Siegel, the senior scientific director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society, said, "Continued reductions in cancer mortality because of drops in smoking, better treatment, and earlier detection is certainly great news."

Siegel continued, "However, this progress is tempered by rising incidence in young and middle-aged women, who are often the family caregivers, and a shifting cancer burden from men to women."

And we are left asking the question: why are more young women being diagnosed with cancer? Why is there such a massive difference between the amount of the disease in women compared to men?

The New York Post spoke to Dr. Richard Barakat, physician-in-chief at Northwell Health Cancer Institute, who told the publication that he believes that lifestyle changes play an important role in the increase in cancer in younger women.

According to CNN, Siegel, the lead author of the report, highlighted that "Breast and thyroid cancer account for almost half of all cancer diagnoses in women younger than 50."

Dr. Barakat told The Post that it is unsurprising that there has been an increase in breast cancer cases in the US since many American women now either have children much later in life or choose never to have kids at all, which means they are not receiving the protective effects of pregnancy and breastfeeding against breast cancer.

Healthline spoke to Kathleen K. Harnden, MD, MBA, medical director of breast oncology at Inova Schar Cancer Institute in Fairfax, VA. She told the publication that obesity is another factor that could be adding to the increase in breast cancer in younger women.

Dr. Harden told Healthline, "I have concerns about the rising rates of obesity, especially in women. As obesity increases, [women's] risk of breast cancer increases in lockstep with each extra five pounds that they have on their body."

Experts have also highlighted that Americans are eating more ultra-processed foods and are more sedentary than ever before, factors which also increase the chances of an individual being obese.

According to the American Cancer Society, being obese is more likely to cause cancer in women than it is in men, stating that 10% of cancer cases in females in the US are linked to excess body weight, compared to 5% in males.

An increase in alcohol consumption among younger women could also be a factor. According to Healthline, experts agree that an increase in alcohol consumption has been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, oral cavity cancer, and liver cancer, and all of these cancers increased in incidence in the ACS's latest report.

The American Cancer Society's report also found that there has been a sharp increase in cervical cancer. Experts believe that this increase could be due to growing vaccine hesitancy, with more women who refuse to get the HPV vaccine.

Dr Barakat told The New York Post, "The other strange phenomenon we're seeing is that women are putting off going to the gynecologist. If we were vaccinating everyone who should be vaccinated and following screening guidelines, cervical cancer is a disease that in all likelihood would be eradicated."

Women aren't the only ones at higher risk of cancer in the United States. According to the ACS's report, Native Americans are two to three times more likely than whites to die from kidney, liver, stomach, and cervical cancers.

In the case of the Black community, individuals have double the chances compared to the white of dying from prostate, stomach, uterine corpus cancers, and cervical cancer.

CNN highlights that your chances of getting cancer and the chance of survival if diagnosed depend on where you live in the United States.
In Utah, Hawaii, and New York, the rate of death from cancer is fewer than 150 deaths per 100,000 people. Whereas in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Mississippi, the death rate is much higher at over 210 per 100,000.

According to estimates from the American Cancer Society, in 2025, there will be 2,041,910 new cancer diagnoses, close to 5,600 a day in the United States, and 618,120 cancer deaths.

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