Women in India are more likely to get cancer. Men are more likely to die from it.
The paradox, revealed in a study of the country's latest cancer registry, tells a story at once simple and confounding.
Women account for just over half of all new cases, but men make up the majority of deaths.
India appears to be an outlier. In 2022, for every 100,000 people worldwide, on average about 197 were diagnosed with cancer that year. Men fared worse, at 212, compared to 186 for women.
Nearly 20 million cancer cases were diagnosed globally in 2022 - about 10.3 million in men and 9.7 million in women. In the US, the estimated lifetime risk of cancer is nearly equal for men and women.
In India, the most common cancers among women are breast, cervical, and ovarian. Breast and cervical cancers make up 40% of female cases.
While cervical cancer is largely linked to infections such as human papillomavirus (HPV), breast and ovarian cancers are often influenced by hormonal factors. Rising cases of these hormone-related cancers are also associated with lifestyle shifts - including later pregnancies, reduced breastfeeding, obesity, and sedentary habits.
For men, oral, lung, and prostate cancers dominate. Tobacco drives 40% of preventable cancers, mainly oral and lung.
So what is going on in India? Is it an earlier diagnosis for women? Are men's cancers more aggressive, or does the answer lie in differences in access, awareness and treatment between genders?
Awareness campaigns and improved facilities mean cancers common among women are often detected earlier. With their long latency periods, treatment outcomes are relatively good. Mortality rates among women are therefore lower.
Men fare worse; their cancers are more often tied to lifestyle - tobacco and alcohol drive lung and oral cancers, both aggressive and less responsive to treatment.
Men are also less likely to seek medical help early. The result: higher mortality and poorer outcomes, even when incidence is lower than among women.
The data indicate an uneven cancer burden across regions and types, with 11 out of every 100 people in India running the risk of developing cancer at some point during their life. An estimated 1.56 million cases and 874,000 deaths are projected for 2024.
Regional disparities are also notable, particularly in the northeast, which remains India's cancer hotspot where lifestyle choices significantly contribute to cancer risks. Overall, the findings underline the pressing need for targeted prevention and treatment strategies to address the specific challenges women and men face in India.
