Climate Change May Increase Cancer Rates — and Mortality — for Women

Along with changing coastlines, crops and summer camp plans, climate change may wreak another form of havoc — on women’s health.

According to a study published in May in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, a warming world could also increase women’s rates of cancer. Along with increasing rates of occurrence, the study pointed to mortality increases, too.

Global warming could increase rates of cancer in women

The study focused on women’s health in 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa — already-hot parts of the globe that have been getting even hotter. The findings were disturbing: breast, ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers all became both more common with each degree of temperature increase — and more fatal.

Using cancer prevalence and mortality data — as well as temperature changes — over the two decades between 1998 and 2019, the researchers found that the overall prevalence of these four cancers increased from 173 cases per 100,000 people to 280 cases for every additional degree Celsius. Mortality rates increased from 171 deaths per 100,000 people to 332 deaths at the same scale. These increases are small, but statistically significant, and are not explained by improved diagnostics or survival rates.

However, trends differed between specific types of cancers — as well as different countries. Overall, researchers found that ovarian cancer rates saw the biggest increases, and breast cancer rates, the least. Additionally, some countries had more pronounced increases than others. For instance, breast cancer rates rose by 560 cases per 100,000 for each degree Celsius increase in Qatar, but only by 330 cases in Bahrain.

It’s important to factor in, too, that women remain a marginalized population in many of the studied countries, and many have less access to early screening and treatment. However, as climate change progresses, the study could have implications for women in other parts of the world as well — especially pregnant women, who are among the most vulnerable to heat-related health risks and changes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Heat isn’t the only element increasing rates of cancer

While heat may be an accelerator for women’s cancer — and skin cancer — it’s not the only factor.

Recent studies have also shown that adults under 50 are being diagnosed with cancer more frequently than they have in the past. (In this case, too, women are at a severe disadvantage, being nearly twice as likely as young men to receive a diagnosis.) While more research needs to be done to determine the cause (or causes), factors like increasing obesity rates and the ubiquity of ultra-processed foods are high on scientists’ lists of potential culprits.

Alcohol has also been shown to be carcinogenic — in any amount. (Which is to say, it might be a good idea to get your antioxidants elsewhere.)

Most health insurance plans, as well as Medicare and Medicaid, cover cancer treatment — and screening. However, even after insurance, a cancer diagnosis can rack up substantial out-of-pocket costs. Shopping for the best health insurance plan for cancer patients may help you save money and still have a premium close to the national average. And, of course, doing everything you can to take care of yourself can help reduce — though not eliminate — your risk.