Why more women have cancer in India

Women in India are more likely to have cancer. Men are more likely to die.

The paradox, revealed in a study of the last country’s cancer register, tells a story that is both simple and confusing.

Women represent a little more than half of all new cases, but men constitute the majority of deaths.

India seems to be an aberrant value. In 2022, per 100,000 people worldwide, on average, about 197 were diagnosed with cancer that year. The men behaved, at 212, against 186 for women, according to the World Cancer Research Fund.

Nearly 20 million cancer cases were diagnosed worldwide in 2022 – around 10.3 million men and 9.7 million in women. In the United States, the risk of life-estimated cancer is almost equal to men and women, according to American Cancer Society.

In India, the most common cancers in women are breast, cervical and ovary. Breast and cervix cancers represent 40% of female cases.

While cervical cancer is largely linked to infections such as human papillomavirus (HPV), breast and ovary cancers are often influenced by hormonal factors. The growing cases of these hormone -related cancers are also associated with lifestyle changes – including subsequent pregnancies, breastfeeding, obesity and sedentary habits.

For men, oral, pulmonary and prostatic cancers dominate. Tobacco leads to 40% of avoidable cancers, mainly oral and lung.

So what’s going on in India? Is this an earlier diagnosis for women? Are men’s cancers more aggressive, or habits such as smoking and chewing tobacco lead to their results? Or does the answer are in the differences in access, awareness and processing between the sexes?

Awareness campaigns and improved facilities mean that common cancers in women are often detected earlier.

With their long periods of latency – the time between exposure to a cancer factor and the appearance of detectable cancer – the results of the treatment are relatively good.

Mortality rates in women are therefore lower.

Men get out of worse. Their cancers are more often linked to lifestyle – tobacco and alcohol lead pulmonary and oral cancers, both aggressive and less sensitive to treatment.

Men are also less likely to do preventive exams or request a doctor early. The result: higher mortality and poorer results, even when the incidence is lower than in women.

“Women’s health has become a more important objective in public health campaigns, and it is a double-edged sword. Greater awareness and screening means that more cancers are detected early. For men, conversation rarely goes beyond tobacco and mouth cancer,” said Mehrotra, said myself.

“Women, through genesic health checks, are more likely to see a doctor at some point. Many men, on the other hand, can spend their whole life without ever seeing one,” said Dr. Mehrotra.

But the real story emerges when the figures are broken down: the burden of India cancer is offset between the regions and through the types of cancer with which people are confronted.

Data from 43 registers show that 11 people out of 100 in India are running the risk of developing cancer at some point in their lives. It is estimated that 1.56 million cases and 874,000 deaths are planned for 2024.

The northeast north-east and relatively remote region remains Hotspot of India cancer, with the Mizoram Aizawl district recording risks for life twice the national average.

Doctors say it is due to lifestyle.

“For most cancers of the state of the Northeast, I am convinced that the lifestyle is the key factor. Tobacco consumption is widespread here – much higher than elsewhere,” Ravi Kannan, Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Center in Assam.

“In the Barak Valley in Assam, it is especially to chew tobacco; only 25 km in the Mizoram, smoking dominates. Add to this alcohol, to Aréca nuts and even the way meat is prepared. Food choices and preparation lead the risk of cancer. There is no special cancer cancer gene.

But the model is not confined to the northeast. Srinagar to cashmere administered by the Indians leads the lung cancer maps in men, while the southern Hyderabad city leads to breast cancer. Men in the capital, Delhi, are diagnosed with all cancers gathered at a higher rate than men in other regions, even after having corrected age differences.

Mouth cancer also increases: 14 registers of population registers increase in men and four in women.

India’s risk patchwork is part of a broader truth: cancer is both the most universal and unequal disease. The disparities observed through the Indian states reflect a world fracture shaped by geography, income and access to care.

In rich countries, one in 12 women will receive a diagnosis of breast cancer during her life, but only one out of 71 will die, according to WHO.

In poorer countries, the image is reversed: only one in 27 women will receive a diagnosis, but until a in 48 dies from the disease.

“Women in the lower countries of the Human Development Index (HDI) are 50% less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than women in high IDH countries, but they are at a much higher risk of dying of the disease due to late diagnosis and inadequate access to quality treatment,” said Isabelle Soerjomataram, deputy chief of the Branch Cancer research (Circ).

Then there are other differences. In the United States, for example, Amerindians are faced with the highest cancer mortality, with cancer deaths of the kidneys, the liver, the stomach and the cervix two to three times higher than the whites; Blacks also have double the mortality of whites for prostate, stomach and uterine cancers, according to the American Cancer Society.

In India, the burden of cancer is not content to grow – it becomes more complex. The register data reflect a company in transition, where longevity, lifestyle and the environment reshape health risks.

However, in the midst of this changing landscape, many questions remain, emphasizing the urgent need for targeted prevention, early detection and lifestyle changes, including healthier diets and habits.

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