van Gerwen M, et al. - Researchers sought to determine the clinical factors that are independently predictive of longer survival in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma via analyzing 16,267 eligible patients (21.3% females) in the National Cancer Data Base. After adjusting for all covariates, females displayed significantly better survival compared to males. Younger age at diagnosis, higher income, lower comorbidity score, epithelial histology, earlier stage, and receipt of surgical or medical treatment were the other factors significantly associated with better survival. Gender survival differences may relate to circulating estrogen, present in young but not older women, and higher expression of the estrogen receptor beta in epithelial mesothelioma.