Obviously those affect both men and women, but men are represented higher in both causes. Heart disease and cancer absolutely have large research groups focused on them, they aren’t being ignored by society at large.
Although general cancer research received roughly 3x more funding. Blood cancers aren’t far behind breast cancer in funding ($2.7b breast and $2.3b blood).
Fwiw, more research into any kind of treatment for breast cancer besides “slash and burn and poison” will continue to lead to improving treatments for other cancers, to the benefit of children and men as well.
Here’s a pretty good summary of how we got from “unspeakable and incurable,” past “initial biopsy and radical mastectomy in one operation,” to a place where breast cancer research is finally well-funded :
The fact that breast cancer is so common led women to get organized and raise private funds as well as demanding government funding. We’re the majority population group after all, and 1 in 10 of us will get breast cancer.
A lot of more rare cancers don’t have the numbers of passionate people behind them to fund the necessary research. It’s not fair but cancer ain’t fair.
Another thing about breast cancer, it’s easier to screen for routinely than, say, pancreatic cancer, so it’s now often caught early enough for treatment to succeed. And it’s easier to access that first tumor without having to dodge vital organs.
A patient who lives long enough to undergo radiation, chemo, and immunotherapy provides valuable information to researchers.
There are a lot of risky behaviors that cause heart disease or cancer, like drug abuse (legal drugs included) or eating too much, and AFAIK drug abuse is definitely more common in men.
This is kind of incorrect. The leading cause of death (in the US) is heart disease, followed by cancer:
https://www.voronoiapp.com/healthcare/What-are-the-leading-causes-of-death-for-men-and-women-4775
Obviously those affect both men and women, but men are represented higher in both causes. Heart disease and cancer absolutely have large research groups focused on them, they aren’t being ignored by society at large.
Cancer is a really broad cause of death. The cancer that has arguably the best funded research is breast cancer, which mostly affects women.
Although general cancer research received roughly 3x more funding. Blood cancers aren’t far behind breast cancer in funding ($2.7b breast and $2.3b blood).
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(23)00182-1/fulltext
Fwiw, more research into any kind of treatment for breast cancer besides “slash and burn and poison” will continue to lead to improving treatments for other cancers, to the benefit of children and men as well.
Here’s a pretty good summary of how we got from “unspeakable and incurable,” past “initial biopsy and radical mastectomy in one operation,” to a place where breast cancer research is finally well-funded :
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3298674/
Sure, researching better treatments for breast cancer can lead to better treatments for other cancers, but then that’s also true for the inverse.
The fact that breast cancer is so common led women to get organized and raise private funds as well as demanding government funding. We’re the majority population group after all, and 1 in 10 of us will get breast cancer.
A lot of more rare cancers don’t have the numbers of passionate people behind them to fund the necessary research. It’s not fair but cancer ain’t fair.
Another thing about breast cancer, it’s easier to screen for routinely than, say, pancreatic cancer, so it’s now often caught early enough for treatment to succeed. And it’s easier to access that first tumor without having to dodge vital organs.
A patient who lives long enough to undergo radiation, chemo, and immunotherapy provides valuable information to researchers.
There are a lot of risky behaviors that cause heart disease or cancer, like drug abuse (legal drugs included) or eating too much, and AFAIK drug abuse is definitely more common in men.
We did it team, the stats are higher because men do risky things, especially drugs.