Cancer deaths one-third higher in UK men

CANCER death rates in the UK are more than one-third higher in men than in women, a new report says.

The stark c o nt r a s t between t he sexes is revealed in the latest survival figures from 2010.

In that year, 202 men per 100,000 died compared with 147 women per 100,000 – a 35% difference.

When gender-specific diseases, such as prostate and breast cancer, were excluded, men were 67% more likely to die.

Liver cancer death rates were twice as high in men, who also faced the risk of being killed by oesophageal cancer.

The difference may partly be explained by men developing hard-to-treat cancers such as those affecting the bladder, oesophagus and liver, according to Cancer Resear c h UK, which produced the figures.

Each year around 82,500 men in the UK lose their lives to cancer, making it the leading cause of death in the male population.

The findings wer e presented yesterday at the Men’s Health Forum conference in London.

Professor Alan White, from Leeds Metropolitan University, chairman of the Forum and co-author of the report, said: “The impact cancer has on younger men is often overlooked, but these are men whose life is cut too short by the disease.

“It’s crucial that the NHS leads the way in taking a more proactive approach to prevent men both getting and dying from cancer prematurely.”

A second repor t by Cancer Research UK showed t hat smoking remains the largest preventable cause of cancer in men, leading to 36,500 cases of new disease each year.