The Cancer Menu

As we storm through our whirlwind week on cancer, it’s interesting to consider which cancers you are most likely to get. Please don’t become paranoid, however – this is an exercise in epidemiology, and not doom-and-gloom:

Women are most likely to get:

1. Breast cancer
2. Lung cancer
3. Colorectal cancer

Men are most likely to get:

1. Prostate cancer
2. Lung cancer
3. Colorectal cancer

Note that for both men and women, lung cancer is far more deadly than either breast cancer or prostate cancer. So for both sexes, the cancer you are most likely to die from is lung cancer. That being said, if you are a non-smoker and are able to minimize your environmental exposures (second-hand smoke, asbestos, radon, etc.), your lifetime risk for lung cancer is far lower than these lists might suggest.