New information shows that melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, affects men far more than women. According to research from the Cancer Research UK, 3.4 men in every 100,000 die from melanoma each year, compared to 2.0 women an increased risk of about 70 percent.
Not only is the cancer more prevalent in men, it is more deadly as well. According to the research, 6,200 men develop melanoma each year and 1,300 die, compared with 6,600 and 900 women respectively. These come out to be a death rate of 21 percent for men and 13.6 percent for women. Since men and women are diagnosed at the same rate around 17 people for every 100,000 it is clear that when men are diagnosed the melanoma is in a later, more lethal stage.
According to Julia Newton-Bishop from the University of Leeds, there also seems to be strong biological reasons behind the differences and we re working on research to better understand why men and women s bodies deal with their melanomas in different ways.
