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Breast-Cancer Death Rate Drops Almost 40 Percent, Saving 322,000 Lives, Study Says (washingtonpost.com)

Breast cancer death rates declined almost 40 percent between 1989 and 2015, averting 322,600 deaths, the American Cancer Society reported Tuesday. From a report: Breast cancer death rates increased by 0.4 percent per year from 1975 to 1989, according to the study. After that, mortality rates decreased rapidly, for a 39 percent drop overall through 2015. The report, the latest to document a long-term reduction in breast-cancer mortality, attributed the declines to both improvements in treatments and to early detection by mammography. Deanna Attai, a breast cancer surgeon at the University of California at Los Angeles who was not involved in the study, said the advances in treatment included much better chemotherapy regimens -- developed in the 1980s and refined ever since -- that are administered post-surgery to reduce the risk of recurrence. Other improvements have included tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen agent that was approved in the late 1970s; Herceptin, a drug used to treat tumors with a higher-than-normal level of a protein called HER2 and drugs called aromatase inhibitors.

64 comments

  1. They don't save any live ... by denisbergeron · · Score: 0

    they just delaying fate

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
    1. Re:They don't save any live ... by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      In Medicine, a success is having the patient die from a condition that you didn't try to treat,

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:They don't save any live ... by cayenne8 · · Score: 1
      Ok, now that we have success with breast cancer, how about time and funds for prostate cancer....you know, to keep things even.

      ;)

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    3. Re:They don't save any live ... by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 1

      Don't be an ass.

      --

      Obliteracy: Words with explosions

    4. Re:They don't save any live ... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Informative

      Ok, now that we have success with breast cancer, how about time and funds for prostate cancer....you know, to keep things even.

      ;)

      If you had to prioritize, you would in all cases go for breast cancer first. Except for the much fewer cases of aggressive prostate cancers, you have something that kills more people.

      Many men die of old age while having prostate cancer.

      The more important issue of treating prostate cancer is the number of false positives, which lead to unneeded operations, and often some pretty nasty outcomes. A husband of one of my wife's friends was diagnosed, and the doctor and the wife demanded a really aggressive approach. Today, he is impotent and wears adult diapers because he has no bladder control. He said death wasn't a bad alternative to that.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    5. Re:They don't save any live ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well I'm certainly glad he's at least wearing adult diapers, and not the other kind.

    6. Re:They don't save any live ... by laurencetux · · Score: 1

      such as oh being OLDER THAN DIRT??

      but anyway keeping somebody in good enough shape to be racking up XP is more or less the goal of medicine
      (and btw folks you have to be able to get out of bed to get your daily "login" xp bonus)

    7. Re:They don't save any live ... by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      The more important issue of treating prostate cancer is the number of false positives, which lead to unneeded operations, and often some pretty nasty outcomes.

      This was pretty much what I was alluding to.

      Actually, if they want to research and treat the #1 cause of women's premature death, they'd go for heart disease.

      If I recall correctly, that's what most women die of....many more than of breast cancer.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    8. Re:They don't save any live ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they just delaying fate

      Ah, these wonderful new times. In the past the phrase "saving lives" meant they would have died from something but that particular death was prevented. From your comment, I suppose "saving lives" now means "conferred immortality".

      Thanks for the update.

    9. Re:They don't save any live ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      english no obviously are first language

    10. Re:They don't save any live ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      In Medicine, a success is having the patient die from a condition that you didn't try to treat,

      In Politics, the definition of success is based on how you run the statistics through the bullshit filter.

      The 5-year breast cancer "survivor" metric hasn't changed in decades. The reality? We've hardly advanced at all with treating or curing cancer; we've just started looking for it earlier.

    11. Re:They don't save any live ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A husband of one of my wife's friends was diagnosed, and the doctor and the wife demanded a really aggressive approach. Today, he is impotent and wears adult diapers because he has no bladder control. He said death wasn't a bad alternative to that.

      And the less aggressive approach is taking Proscar, which is basically being chemically neutered. Not much fun, either.

      Someone in the know told me that it's not a matter of if you'll get prostate cancer, but how bad you'll get it.

    12. Re:They don't save any live ... by jbengt · · Score: 1

      We've hardly advanced at all with treating or curing cancer; we've just started looking for it earlier.

      We still can't "cure" most breast cancer patients, but we are definitely better at prolonging the life of a breast cancer patient past 5 years, even when comparisons account for detection at earlier stages.

    13. Re:They don't save any live ... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Well I'm certainly glad he's at least wearing adult diapers, and not the other kind.

      He probably shouldn't have had the operation done by the famous Russian Rabbi, Boris Kutchyakockoff either.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    14. Re:They don't save any live ... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      And the less aggressive approach is taking Proscar, which is basically being chemically neutered. Not much fun, either.

      Someone in the know told me that it's not a matter of if you'll get prostate cancer, but how bad you'll get it.

      One of the interesting issues of civilization is that men get a hellava lot less sex than they used to in days of yore. After marriage and children, the nookie time drops way off. Now with a lot of evidence that the more use of old Willie the better, http://www.medscape.com/viewar... it doesn't jibe with modern society.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    15. Re:They don't save any live ... by michelcolman · · Score: 2

      The reality? We've hardly advanced at all with treating or curing cancer; we've just started looking for it earlier.

      It's probably even worse than that. Cancer death rate is the number of cancer deaths divided by the number of diagnosed cancers. But it's a well known fact that a large number of diagnosed cancers are false positives or are at least benign enough to be unlikely to actually become the cause of death. People can live with such a "cancer" for decades and end up dying from something else. This means that increased screening automatically increases the denominator of the cancer rate and therefore reduces the rate even if the number of deaths remains the same.

      That doesn't mean we haven't made any progress at all, of course. I sure hope we've decreased the nominator as well. But it does make the 40 percent figure rather less impressive. I'm actually quite surprised that we haven't done better with all these cancer "breakthroughs" we keep hearing about in the media.

    16. Re:They don't save any live ... by bws111 · · Score: 3

      I don't know where you got your definition of the cancer death rate, but it is not what they used. They looked at how many deaths from breast cancer there were per 100,000 women (NOT per 100,000 women with breast cancer). That number is 40% lower than it was. I don't know how you can spin that as 'unimpressive'. It doesn't matter if the decrease is because of better treatment, or early detection, or simply not getting breast cancer in the first place (which of course would be the ideal).

  2. CAUSED BY CELL PHONE RADIATION by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's obvious.

    1. Re:CAUSED BY CELL PHONE RADIATION by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      But smart phones, help cure it?

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:CAUSED BY CELL PHONE RADIATION by blindseer · · Score: 1

      You're holding it wrong.

      --
      I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    3. Re:CAUSED BY CELL PHONE RADIATION by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. It is also the cure for chronic flatulence

  3. Not 40% Improvement for the Same Diagnosis by crow · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If I read that correctly, this means that of all the cases reported now, the overall odds of death have dropped 40% compared to all the cases reported thirty years ago or so. That doesn't mean the odds of survival for a given diagnosis have improved 40%. One reason cited was the increased early detection through mammograms, so clearly some of the improvement is from shifting the average diagnosis to a less severe tumor. This raises the issue of tumors that are now detected which in the 70s would have gone unnoticed, and wouldn't have progressed, but are now detected and removed. (I'm not an expert, but I read on the Internet that this is an issue, so it must be true.) If you take that into account, it may pull down the overall percentage a tick.

    In any case, it's clearly good news, but I've still lost a friend from breast cancer, but I'm hopeful that another will survive. I'm looking forward to what the next decade or two bring with better understanding of the genetic differences of specific cancers and vaccines or other drugs designed to target those differences.

    1. Re:Not 40% Improvement for the Same Diagnosis by tomhath · · Score: 1

      That doesn't mean the odds of survival for a given diagnosis have improved 40%.

      I don't understand your point; the American Cancer Society didn't report a 40% improvement for the same diagnosis. The combination of better diagnosis and better treatments has resulted in a 40% improvement.

    2. Re:Not 40% Improvement for the Same Diagnosis by Solandri · · Score: 1

      If cancer starts off small and benign, and only after some years turns larger and malignant (fatal), then the death rate will be skewed towards women with more developed forms of breast cancer. The inclusion of less developed forms of breast cancer via earlier detection will skew the death rates down not because the women are dying less often, but because you're including more women in your stats who have early breast cancer and thus don't have an elevated death rate (yet).

      You can see the same thing in the mortality rate for the general population by age. If you look at only the 75-84 yo age group (analogous to women with late form breast cancer, the only kind detectable in the 1970s-1980s), the death rate is 5000 per 100,000 per year. If you look at the previous 65-74 year age group (analogous to women with early form breast caner), the death rate is 2000 per 100,000 per year. If you then combine these two groups together (analogous to modern early detection), their combined death rate will be a combination of the two - somewhere around 3000 per.

      So the death rate has "decreased" 5000 to 3000 even though nothing has changed (it's the exact same data set), just because your statistics now include younger people / women with earlier forms of breast cancer.

    3. Re:Not 40% Improvement for the Same Diagnosis by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

      You also have to understand how they count survival. If you live for 5 years, then is is counted as survival. If you just created a test that detected cancer earlier than 5 years before death, it would have a 100% survival rate. That makes all the numbers they throw out meaningless. The same number of people are dying at the same time as before, but because you told them they were going to die, that makes them from the dead camp to the survival camp. this and this

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
    4. Re:Not 40% Improvement for the Same Diagnosis by jbengt · · Score: 2

      If you just created a test that detected cancer earlier than 5 years before death, it would have a 100% survival rate. That makes all the numbers they throw out meaningless.

      Except that the mortality statistics cited in the study are for deaths caused by breast cancer per 100,000 females in the overall population, not deaths per 100,000 diagnosed patients. The incidence of in situ and invasive breast cancer diagnoses has flattened out in recent years but still has an upward trend, while mortality rates have gone down.

    5. Re:Not 40% Improvement for the Same Diagnosis by bws111 · · Score: 2

      It doesn't appear that they are talking about a 40% improved survival rate for diagnosed cases. They are looking at deaths caused by brreast cancer in the general population, and that rate is 40% lower than it was.

    6. Re:Not 40% Improvement for the Same Diagnosis by crow · · Score: 2

      Thanks!

      So that does take into account any increase in diagnosis of cases that would not have been fatal, and it also takes into account any decrease due to changes that reduce the overall incidence, such as reduced smoking.

      Still, no matter how they came to the number, it's impressive.

    7. Re:Not 40% Improvement for the Same Diagnosis by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      It will reduce the number of deaths caused by cancer induced by breast x-rays.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  4. Thankful by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Without these advances, my wife would likely have died of this disease. Instead, she's alive, and despite the fact that breast cancer survivorship is no walk in the park, she's still able to do most of what she did before.

    It's incredible how much medical science has advanced on breast cancer since the late 80's. I hope the research keeps its momentum.

    --

    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

    1. Re:Thankful by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      I'm glad your wife is OK. Cancer sucks.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    2. Re:Thankful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      And as a counter-point to this: My wife died two years ago from breast cancer that eventually came back and spread to her brain. She was originally diagnosed at 34 and died at 39. It came back just about three years after her initial diagnosis and double mastectomy. It came back in her lungs initially and we did everything we could, including medical trials for new drugs, and monthly trips to M.D. Anderson.

      The moral of this story is that the new medical advances testing such as mammograms don't do any good when doctors start applying them at an arbitrary age. In my late wife's case the standard age of "start getting tested at 40" was six years too late. We had several doctors at M.D. Anderson tell us that they felt mammogram testing should start much earlier.

      Don't wait until 40.

    3. Re:Thankful by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 1

      As someone who still loses entire nights of sleep to this fear, you have my deepest sympathy. I'm a total stranger, but if ever you need an outlet or an ear, I'm more than willing to listen and talk. Strength to you.

      --

      Obliteracy: Words with explosions

  5. Thoughts and prayers to the survivors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    thoughts and prayers

  6. Re:A Victory for Feminism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    republican?

  7. Re:A Victory for Feminism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nah. The goal is to have every man get prostate cancer so they need a prostatectomy and become impotent.

  8. Re:A Victory for Feminism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Troll?

  9. Re:A Victory for Feminism by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    A victory for sure, but not nearly enough. Feminism will not be complete until every man dies of ass cancer.

    They'll have a party after you expire of it. Along with the rest of humanity.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  10. 3 time survivor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Over the past 30 years, my wife has survived breast cancer 3 times. All three occurrences were classified as new primaries. The third time was HER2 positive, which meant chemo for a year. The first six rounds were classic chemo plus Herceptin, followed by another 8 rounds of Herceptin only. She has also been on tamoxifen for the last 5 years. The first two occurrences were early enough that the HER2 factor wasn't even discovered. Thankfully, it seems that neither of the first two were HER2 positive anyway, as both were not as aggressive as the third. The key in all three cases was early detection. I noticed a comment above about delaying fate. In a way this is true, in that she will be able in the future to die of something other than breast cancer. In the mean time, we get to enjoy retirement together. Modern medicine has kept us both alive, as I am around thanks to a triple bypass.

    1. Re:3 time survivor by chipschap · · Score: 1

      I'm glad it worked out for you. I've survived two different cancers and I wouldn't have, had I been born 30 or 40 years earlier.

      I don't understand some of the negative posting here. What's not to like about earlier detection, better treatment, and more positive outcomes?

      To those of you who might think it's a big joke, I truly hope you never have to find out you were wrong.

    2. Re:3 time survivor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't understand some of the negative posting here.

      A: Asshole cancer. Unlike most cancers, people grow OUT of this particularly nasty, youth-borne ailment. I'd bet that there's an inverse correlation between age and ignorant negativity in posts.

      That's not to say there aren't angry, bitter-beer-face old coots posting here. They just don't waste their time posting their bile because they're wise enough to know that 99% of Slashdot's remaining readers tune it out...

  11. I have diarrhea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It tastes wonderful.

    1. Re:I have diarrhea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, can you share the recipe to get myself the best diarrhea?

  12. Droopy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just what we need. More droopy breasts

  13. This would be a better use of tax dollars... but.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tax dollars means violence and theft... so lets end the deprivation of people's rights and labour (which ultimately translates into craftily induced slavery) and push toward what was an American tradition: Charity. Something that when genuine isn't dependent on the use of violence or theft to extract from unwilling participants. We would be better able to be charitable when governments didn't enslave our being to them for 70% of the day. That is the government steals about 70% of your wealth via income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, vehicular registration "fees", and dozens of other hidden taxes and fees (ie only half of your income tax is obvious as the other half that is stolen from you is paid from a portion of your paycheck most don't know exist, except for those self-employed, who have to pay the whole thing). If you think there should be no law for which isn't involving theft or violence check out the Free State Project- a migration of liberty-minded people to New Hampshire for the purpose of expanding freedom and ending the totalitarian world we live in- within our life time- at least in New Hampshire.

  14. Good news everyone =D by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    except for cancer

  15. Healthy practices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My parents smoked all their adult lives. The father lived to 89 and the mother lived to 76 (the average for her side of the family). They were never sick and never got any diseases. The mother did develop somewhat of a hump back with osteoporosis. There were three thing they continuously did: drink 2 to 3 cups of coffee in the morning, fix and eat homemade fudge almost every week (dark chocolate), and religiously had a high ball at 5:00 pm every day.

  16. charities... by hlee · · Score: 1

    Before donating to any such charities, please do a quick search with charitynavigator or charitywatch:
    https://www.charitynavigator.o...
    https://www.charitywatch.org/

  17. What about prostate cancer? by Kartu · · Score: 1

    Also takes lives of about 1 in 40

  18. what about that earlier yearly increase? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That 40% reduction in 26 years is great, of course, but what about that 0.4% increase per year from 1975 to 1989?

    What has caused that? Because that adds up to 5.6% increase in 14 years. It is uncertain that whatever caused that increase is gone now.

    If that influence is gone, removing that influence can be credited for a sizable chunk of that 40% reduction.
    If that influence is still there, that 40% could have been much higher.

  19. Why is black-white disparity "unacceptable"? by blindseer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Still, the remaining black-white disparity âoeis not acceptable,â said Lee Schwartzberg, a medical oncologist at West Cancer Center in Germantown, Tenn. He said the gap reflects complicated social, economic and biological factors that are not yet fully understood, including insurance and employment status. In addition, black women are twice as likely as white women to develop so-called triple negative breast cancer, which can be harder to treat, the report noted.

    They do a study and find that people with African ancestry tend to have a kind of cancer that we don't yet know how to treat. What if this disparity was found between people from Angola vs. Kenya? Would this be "unacceptable? What if it was between Greeks and French? Would that be "unacceptable"? They can call this "complicated" all they like but the reason that this one group tends to have higher rates of deaths from cancer is clear from the paragraph I quoted, it's genetic. There's nothing we can do about one's genes.

    It seems obvious they know the reason why the disparity exists, it's genetic. However, when we equate this disparity to race instead of genetics then it becomes "unacceptable" to people. It's unfortunate that we cannot treat this "triple negative" cancer better. Research into treating this cancer should continue, as should treatments for all kinds of cancer. Seeing this as a matter of race instead of genetics turns a problem of medicine and science into a political issue.

    Can we leave politics out of science? Please? Politics ruined football. If sanity is not regained then politics will ruin everything.

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    1. Re:Why is black-white disparity "unacceptable"? by thesandtiger · · Score: 2

      Bzzt, wrong answer.

      A friend of mine does public health work, specifically around cancer and outcomes, with a number of hospitals directly and with data from a great many more.

      One of the interesting things they've found is that outcomes are greatly influenced by one's socio-economic status even when people are able to get the same treatment. Why?

      Because having cancer - actually dealing with it, getting treatment for it - is complicated. Keeping on top of myriad appointments, following through on issues with insurance, basically just working with the system, is hard for people who a) have a fundamental distrust of a system that hasn't worked well for them and b) don't know enough about this particular system to navigate through it. Patients from poorer backgrounds were less likely to advocate for themselves than patients from more affluent backgrounds, and would ultimately lead to an increased mortality or worse outcomes for people in the less affluent group.

      In one hospital, they addressed the problem by getting volunteers who had been through the process (either as a survivor or partner of someone who had cancer) to help them navigate through this complex process and let the patient focus instead on getting well. Lo and behold, outcomes improved - not to the same level (there were factors outside of treatment that impacted survival - such as stress), but substantially.

      To say that the difference is purely biological is frankly uninformed. Sorry, chum, but when you're dealing with science that is heavily human involved, politics in fact are important considerations. And, based on the improvements in outcomes (and resultant policy changes to try and provide more assistance), I'd say in this case that politics has HELPED rather than hindered.

      "Politics" is EXTREMELY relevant to medical outcome, and the fact that you were voted 5 for your comment just makes it it clear that there are a great number of people who have no idea what they're talking about, to the detriment of others.

      --
      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
    2. Re:Why is black-white disparity "unacceptable"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fuck off you piece of shit sjw

  20. I thought it was the post-modern feminism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Genderswapping 4 times in 3 years tends to leave your breasts in a medical waste bin. Mind you, the suicide and urinary tract rates *skyrocket*, along with the inevetiable iatrogenic mortality of such body-modification therapy.

  21. Re:A Victory for Feminism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But, his ass tulip was so poignant, and fragrant, I relied on it blossoming every spring to cheer me up.

  22. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  23. Treat the cause, not the symptoms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Breast cancer can be avoided by avoiding animal products and eating a whole food plant based diet. See the movie "Forks Over Knives" on Netflix, or read "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell, or search for Dr. Campbell videos on YouTube.

  24. Prostate Cancer sexism.. by thesupraman · · Score: 1

    Do you know your claims are false, or do you not care?

    The fact is that similar numbers of people die from both.
    Prostate cancer is diagnosed far more often, and men suffer from a larger number of life-impacting operations to remove their prostate than for breast cancer.
    There are 8 TIMES as many drugs developed for breast cancer than prostate cancer.
    Undiagnosed mortality rates from both are quite similar, although higher for prostate cancer.
    Screening for breast cancer received around 10 TIMES the funding of prostate cancer.
    Research funding for breast cancer is 2 to 4 times that of prostate cancer.

    Equality, got to love it. Men die earlier than Women on average, and Womens health gets much much more funding.
    Welcome to real sexism, the type that isnt talked about because its not seen as 'an issue'

    1. Re:Prostate Cancer sexism.. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Do you know your claims are false, or do you not care?

      The fact is that similar numbers of people die from both.

      Everyone dies of something

      Prostate cancer is diagnosed far more often, and men suffer from a larger number of life-impacting operations to remove their prostate than for breast cancer.

      Then they aren't too bright. While you like to accuse me of lying, this is not news at all, I knew this stuff long ago. And now I'll give you all the fake news you care to call fake. http://healthland.time.com/201... If you are past 60, and get a diagnosis, you should forgo treatment. Why? Becaue unless it is an aggressive case, you'll die of old age first.

      In fact, surgery is often the last thing you want http://healthland.time.com/201...

      The PSA test is the source of many false positives. http://www.prweb.com/releases/...

      The 5 year survival rate for Prostate cancer is is 99 percent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Breast cancer?:

      For women with stage II breast cancer, the 5-year relative survival rate is about 93%.

      The 5-year relative survival rate for stage III breast cancers is around 72%.

      Metastatic, or stage IV breast cancers, have a 5-year relative survival rate of around 22%.

      Satege 0 or 1 has a 5 year survival similar to all stages except aggressive prostate.

      Which is why, exactly why, I said that given an either or case, you will work pretty hard at curing breast cancer, which does tend to kill pretty quickly if you take the same approach as you would with prostate cancer.

      Undiagnosed mortality rates from both are quite similar, although higher for prostate cancer.

      Umm uhh, get ready for it here it comes. don't blink!

      Do you know your claims are false, or do you not care?

      Simply brilliant! me hearty. I am fully aware of the sometimes wildly different ways that women are treated compared to men, and encourage men to even consider that they might live a fuller and less stress filled life by avoiding entanglements with women, because society and the legal system are not conducive to good outcomes for men.

      But I don't hate them, and wish all women long and happy lives.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    2. Re:Prostate Cancer sexism.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Men die earlier than Women on average

      Men die before their wives because they want to.

  25. Female Life Expectancy by Tokolosh · · Score: 1

    Wake me up when women have to register for the draft, and their life expectancy is the same as that of men.

    --
    Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
  26. Reduction in Smoking accounts for much of it by aberglas · · Score: 1

    Smoking is correlated to breast cancer, and people smoke much less now.

    It is actually surprising how ineffective medical advances have been over the last 50 years. Despite an enormous improvement in technology people do not live much longer than they used to. And much of the difference is due to reducing smoking.

    This is in strong contrast to the understanding of germs as the cause of disease in the late 1800s which had a dramatic effect. Antibiotics in the 1940s were helpful, but not as much. And since them very little indeed. Most people just grow old and die from miscellaneous diseases, maybe modern medicine adds a few years.

  27. How much was donated by trevc · · Score: 1

    I wonder how much money was donated and spent on breast cancer research during those years?