Men have higher rates of getting and dying from cancer than women — but you can lower your chances of some cancers.
Risk factors
Most cancers take years to develop, and many things affect your chances; these are risk factors. Some, like getting older, you cannot control; many others you can. Two of the most important steps are making healthy choices and getting the screening tests right for you.
Bryce and Rahman answer questions about the prep, the procedure and the follow-up for a colorectal cancer screening option. CDC.
Healthy choices
- Quit smoking — one of the best ways to lower your risk. Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in the body. If you don't smoke, avoid other people's smoke.
- Limit ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun and from tanning beds, booths and sunlamps, which can cause skin cancer — the most common cancer.
- Limit alcohol, which raises your risk of five kinds of cancer, including liver and colorectal cancer.
- Watch your weight: about 40 percent of all cancers are linked to overweight and obesity.
Screening
Screening checks for cancer before symptoms appear. Every test has benefits and harms, and screening is recommended when the benefits outweigh the harms.
| Cancer | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Colorectal | Ages 45 to 75: get screened regularly, starting soon after 45. Several tests exist — some done at home, others in a doctor's office. Ask your doctor which is right for you. |
| Lung | The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends yearly low-dose CT scans for people 50 to 80 with a history of heavy smoking who smoke now or quit within the past 15 years. |
| Prostate | Middle-aged men should talk to their doctor about the benefits and harms. Screening aims to find cancers likely to spread, early — but most prostate cancers grow slowly or not at all. The usual test is a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood test. |
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Cancer and Men." https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/features/cancer-and-men.html
- CDC: healthy choices, https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/prevention/healthy-choices.html · colorectal, https://www.cdc.gov/colorectal-cancer/screening/index.html · lung, https://www.cdc.gov/lung-cancer/screening/index.html · prostate, https://www.cdc.gov/prostate-cancer/screening/get-screened.html
- The film is the agency's own low-resolution copy, recovered from the Internet Archive's record of cdc.gov.
- Rewritten in hubnx's own words.
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Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.cdc.gov
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