Australian researchers have found out the specific relationship between the gender and colorectal cancer outcomes over time in patients newly diagnosed with the disease. The researchers have found out that female colon cancer patients aged below 50 have much better odds of surviving the disease than their male peers. But the opposite is true of older women with the disease.
Dr. Jenn H. Koo of Sydney South West Area Health Service and her colleagues says,
The age of 50 years is a surrogate for menopause, and the protective effects of estrogen on colorectal cancer may be the explanation.
The team of the researchers have analyzed data on 2,050 people with colorectal cancer between 1997 and 2004. Forty-four percent were female. They found that women aged 50 and younger were about half as likely to die from colorectal cancer as their male peers, no matter how advanced their disease was when it was diagnosed. But older women were 38 percent more likely to die of the disease than men, again, independent of the stage of their tumor or whether or not it had spread.
At the end of the study, the team of the researchers find that the result of the research is “important (as it) adds to the growing evidence that estrogen protects against colorectal cancer.”
Source: REUTERS
Filed under Cancer, Health
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Australian researchers have found out the specific relationship between the gender and colorectal cancer outcomes over time in patients newly diagnosed with the disease. The researchers have found out that female colon cancer patients aged below 50 have much better odds of surviving the disease than their male peers. But the opposite is true of older women with the disease.
