ABSTRACT
Cancer represents a significant source of morbidity and mortality, as well as cost, in the United States. As of 2014, cancer-related therapies cost more than $135,000 per patient per year, a greater than sixfold increase since the year 2000 (Dusetzina, 2016). Important differences exist between men and women in terms of incidence and mortality, differences that have persisted over several decades. The goals of this chapter are to review the quantitative and qualitative data regarding the male predominance of cancer incidence and mortality and to describe research on key differences in the three most common non–sex-specific cancers in men (i.e., lung, colon and rectal, and bladder). Additionally, this review will focus on some ethnicity-specific differences among men with prostate cancer. The aforementioned four cancers represent nearly 50% of the new cancer diagnoses in men and approximately 153,000 deaths in 2018 (Siegel, Miller, & Jemal, 2018). Additionally, cancer mortality is the top cause of death among men aged 60 to 79 years and the second most common cause of death in men aged 40 to 59 years and those aged more than 80 years. Many cancers that men face, including bladder, prostate, and colon cancer, can have a significant impact on male sexual function. Thus, a thorough understanding of the etiology and treatment of these malignancies and of survival from them is important in the advancement of men’s health research. Additionally, efforts to understand the male-predominant disparity in cancer incidence are important to chart a path towards reducing the burden of cost and mortality in the United States.
