Skin cancer in men: with deaths rates soaring, they need to protect themselves, researcher says
- In eight of 18 countries studied, men’s cancer mortality rates have increased by 50 per cent over three decades
- Skin cancer is mostly caused by overexposure to the sun, and men are less likely to cover up or use sunscreen
Planning a tropical holiday, or skiing under sunny skies? Better bring the sunscreen, especially if you’re a man. Skin cancer deaths among men have soared in wealthy nations since 1985, with mortality rates among women rising more slowly or even declining, researchers told a medical conference in Glasgow.
Reasons for the discrepancy between sexes are unclear, but evidence suggests men are “less likely to protect themselves from the sun” or heed public health warnings, says lead researcher Dorothy Yang, a doctor at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in London.
More than 90 per cent of melanoma cancers are caused by skin cell damage from exposure to the sun or other sources of ultraviolet (UV) radiation such as tanning beds, according to the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC).
In eight of 18 countries examined, men’s skin cancer death rates increased over three decades by at least 50 per cent.
In two nations – Ireland and Croatia – it roughly doubled.