Research question 1: How much do known cancer risk factors explain explain observed disparities in non-sex-specific cancer incidence between males and females?
Objective 1: Quantify the extent to which differences in specific sociodemographic, behavioural, environmental and biological risk factors explain male vs. female sex differences in non-sex-specific cancer incidence.
Research question 2: How much do known cancer risk factors explain explain observed disparities in non-sex-specific cancer mortality between males and females?Objective 2: Quantify the extent to which differences in specific socio-demographic, behavioural, environmental and biological risk factors explain male vs. female sex differences in non-sex-specific cancer mortality.
Research question 3: How does the distribution of cancer risk factors and cancer differ between cisgender and transgender populations?
Objective 3: Compare risk factors and cancer outcomes between cisgender and transgender individuals.
Scientific rationale: The lifetime probability of developing overall cancer is similar across the sexes (45% for males, 44% for females). However, differences in cancer incidence between males and females for individual non-sex-specific cancers have been consistently reported. These non-sex-specific cancers are cancers that can develop at shared anatomic sites between males and females. Males also display worse outcomes relative to females for cancer mortality. It is unclear what the male predominance in cancer incidence and mortality can be attributed to, although it’s likely that disparities may arise from the interplay of differences in exposure to known sex-based biological and gender-based social factors.