Men More Prone to Skin Cancer Than Women: Study

More men are dying from skin cancer as compared to women, states study.

Cancer Research UK said that each year, the most serious type of skin cancer, malignant melanoma, kills 1,300 men and 900 women, the BBC reported.

A reason could be men delaying seeking help, but biology may also play a part.

Prof Julia Newton-Bishop, a Cancer Research UK dermatologist, suspects women have stronger immune systems.

German researchers have already identified a gene that appears to make men, but not women, more susceptible to melanoma.

Prof Newton-Bishop, from the University of Leeds, said that the research has suggested the difference between the sexes could be in part because men are more likely to be diagnosed when melanoma is at a more advanced stage.

Men, unlike women, more often develop the cancer on their back rather than arms and legs which may make it more difficult for them to spot.

Malignant melanoma death rates have been increasing in the UK since the early 1970s, largely because more people are developing the disease.

Male incidence rates are now more than five times higher than they were 30 years ago - rising from 2.7 per 100,000 to 17.2 per 100,000.

Getting too much sun and using sun beds increases the risk of this largely preventable disease.

Source: ANI