Everyday Health: Daniel Spratt, professor of radiation oncology at the School of Medicine, said that beyond rising obesity rates and lifestyle factors, the rise in some cancers may have to do with family planning. “Another contributing factor that may increase the risk of select cancers in biological females is women [now] have fewer children and have their first pregnancy later in life—and this trend has increased over time,” he said. “There is a protective effect of various cancers with having children, such as breast and ovarian cancer, and the number of women who either have children later in life or do not have children has risen.”
