The report did highlight some good news: Cancer mortality rates in the United States have dropped 34 percent over the past 30 years, driven in large part by fewer deaths from the four most common malignancies: breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers, according to findings published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
Despite these survival gains, the report also highlights some concerning trends for American women.
Among adults under 50 years old, women are about 82 percent more likely than men in that age group to get a cancer diagnosis, up from 51 percent higher odds roughly two decades ago, according to the report.
Middle-aged women, meanwhile, are now slightly more likely to get cancer than men, who for most of the past two decades had surpassed women in diagnosis rates, the report also found.
“Continued reductions in cancer mortality because of drops in smoking, better treatment, and earlier detection is certainly great news,” says the lead study author, Rebecca Siegel, MPH, the senior scientific director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society.
“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,” Siegel says.
Why Are More Younger Women Getting Cancer Than Men?
Several factors are combining to make women under 50 in particular more vulnerable to cancer than men, Dr. Siegel says.
Obesity, for example, accounts for roughly twice as many cancer cases in women as in men, Siegel says.
Women today are also having fewer children and at later ages, two factors that are contributing to an increase in breast and uterine cancers, Siegel adds.
Binge drinking, which increases the risk of breast and several other types of cancers, is also becoming more common among women in their thirties and forties, Siegel notes.
“Things like obesity, physical inactivity, diets low in fiber and high in processed food, and alcohol intake have increased over the past decades overall, and in younger people, and we’re seeing their consequences younger, too,” says Erica Warner, ScD, MPH, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who wasn’t involved in the new report.
Women of Color Have Higher Cancer Risks
Racial disparities persist in both cancer diagnoses and death rates that may make certain women particularly susceptible to developing or dying of cancer, the report suggests.
Overall, people who identify as American Indian or Alaskan Native (AIAN) had the highest overall cancer incidence and mortality rates among women, the report found. AIAN people also had the highest death rates from cervical cancer, colorectal tumors, and lung cancer.
Black women, however, had the highest mortality rates from breast cancer, according to the report. Black women were also two to three times more likely to die of uterine or endometrial cancers than any other racial group.
How Women Can Reduce Their Cancer Risk
Because many of the factors driving the increased cancer risk for women are related to lifestyle, there are steps people can take to minimize their odds of developing or dying of cancer, Dr. Warner says.
“I always tell people that there are some risks for cancer that are beyond our control, like genetics,” Warner says. “But we can try to control what we can, to the best of our abilities, through lifestyle.”
Good preventive habits, Warners says, include:
- A diet rich in fruits and vegetables that limits processed foods and alcohol
- As much physical activity as possible
- Enough sleep
- Stress management
- Positive social connections with friends and family
Staying up-to-date on mammograms and other recommended cancer screenings is also key for women to minimize their risk, Warner adds.
“These are all things that can help us have healthier minds and bodies, reduce the risk of cancer, and if you do develop cancer, find it when it is most treatable or potentially curable,” Warner says.