THURSDAY, July 9, 2026 (NewsDay News) — For many cancer sites, men are more likely than women to be diagnosed at a regional or distant stage, according to a study published online July 1, 2026. Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers and prevention.
Beth J. McLean, Ph.D., MPH, from the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland, and colleagues used data from 21 Surveillance, Epidemiologic, and End Results databases (from 2015 to 2022, excluding 2020) to examine gender differences in cancer stage at screening for nonreproductive cancers3.
The researchers found that for 20 sites, men were more likely to be diagnosed at regional and/or distant stages compared to local stage, while at four sites they were less likely to be diagnosed at later stages compared to women. When examining the distal phase, the sites with the largest and smallest adjusted odds ratios (ie, male preponderance and female preponderance) were the tongue and bladder, respectively (adjusted odds ratios, 2.34 and 0.69, respectively).
“There are several possible explanations for why we found sex differences among most of the cancer sites we studied,” McLean said in a statement. “One explanation may be differences in cancer screening uptake for sites that can be detected by screening. There may also be differences in health-seeking behavior.”
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