Prostate cancer and breast cancer have a lot in common, although they’re very different as well. The first affects men only, and the second almost entirely women (although about one in a hundred breast cancer patients are men, a fact which should be much more widely publicized, IMHO). They are both influenced by hormones. And they both, in an odd sort of symmetry, cause about the same number of deaths per 100,000 per year.
Dan Zenka, the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s vice president of communications, says the similarity in numbers is hard to ignore. “Prostate cancer is to men what breast cancer is to women,” he told The Daily Caller.
Breast cancer awareness advocates have done an inspired job getting out word and excitement for their cause. Despite their success, prostate cancer has been left in the dust — both in terms of awareness and federal funding. Case in point, prostate cancer research receives less than half of the funding breast cancer does.
In fiscal year 2009, breast cancer research received $872 million worth of federal funding, while prostate cancer received $390 million. It is estimated that fiscal year 2010 will end similarly, with breast cancer research getting $891 million and prostate cancer research receiving $399 million.
Even when it comes to private foundations, the picture is the same. For example, at the American Cancer Society, breast cancer receives about twice the number of grants as prostate cancer.
Kevin Johnson, the senior vice president of public policy for ZERO-The Project to End Prostate Cancer, chalks much of the disparity up to the differences between men and women, specifically the way each deals with their health concerns. Women, Johnson says, tend to be acutely aware and outspoken about their health concerns, while men shy away from such discussions.
Interesting points, and I have little doubt that the last paragraph expresses some sort of truth about the differing attitudes of the sexes when it comes to disease.
However—and it’s a big however—I’ve noticed a glaring omission even in rather lengthy articles such as the one quoted above, which appeared in The Daily Caller. There is actually an enormous difference in the statistics between the two diseases—one that often goes unmentioned, and which I believe has some significance in terms of how much publicity each disease gains. That difference lies in the fact that, although the numbers of deaths for each disease are very similar, the ages of the victims at death are very different indeed.
Simply put, breast cancer is a disease that is much more likely to kill people in the prime of life, whereas prostate cancer tends to strike much later. This is not to say that old people of either sex shouldn’t be treated and cured, or that their diseases are unimportant. They should be treated, and they are important. But it is natural to focus more attention on a disease that kills a greater proportion of younger people.
Take a look at the statistics and you’ll see the magnitude of the differences I’m talking about. Here are the figures for prostate cancer:
From 2006-2010, the median age at death for cancer of the prostate was 80 years of age. Approximately 0.0% died under age 20; 0.0% between 20 and 34; 0.1% between 35 and 44; 1.6% between 45 and 54; 8.3% between 55 and 64; 20.0% between 65 and 74; 37.6% between 75 and 84; and 32.5% 85+ years of age.
The age-adjusted death rate was 23.0 per 100,000 men per year.
And here are the figures for breast cancer:
From 2006-2010, the median age at death for cancer of the breast was 68 years of age. Approximately 0.0% died under age 20; 0.9% between 20 and 34; 5.3% between 35 and 44; 14.6% between 45 and 54; 21.6% between 55 and 64; 20.2% between 65 and 74; 21.5% between 75 and 84; and 15.9% 85+ years of age.
The age-adjusted death rate was 22.6 per 100,000 women per year.
Note the curious symmetry of the death rate, which is almost identical for the two diseases. But that’s where the statistical symmetry ends; breast cancer operates as a very very different disease in terms of age. Although about 1.7% of prostate cancer death occur in people under 55, a whopping 21% of breast cancer deaths occur under that age. By age 64 the death percentage totals have become 10% for prostate and about 42% for breast. By age 74 it’s 30% for prostate and about 63% for breast. By age 84 it’s 68% for prostate and 84% for breast. The remainders of the deaths occur after the age of 85: 32% for prostate and 16% for breast.
Each disease can have particularly horrific aspects in terms of sexuality and sexual functioning, and it’s really not a competition to see which is worse. They’re both plenty bad enough, although fortunately there are a lot of long-term survivors also. And they both need more research in order to make even more progress against these common killers. But it’s no real mystery as to why the loss of a relatively young person would tend to get more attention than the loss of someone closer to the natural end of life, is it?
This may not be the only difference that leads to the funding and research differential, of course. I would imagine there are others, and some may be gender-related. But I haven’t noticed that other diseases that affect men in particular have been stinted as opposed to women’s diseases. For example, heart disease, which tends to affect men at younger ages than it affects women, has certainly been no orphan when it comes to research and funding.