The findings, they say, offer strong evidence that hormonal status – in other words, whether a woman has gone through menopause, is taking birth control pills, or is taking hormone replacement therapy — is a key factor in determining the fate of women with colon cancer.
For women 18 to 44, the average survival after such a diagnosis was 17 months, compared to 14 months for men the same age. For patients 55 and older, average survival was 7 months for women and 9 months for men.