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Cancer incidence, deaths expected to double by 2030 without preventive measures
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In a report released for World Cancer Day, the American Cancer Society said worldwide cancer incidence will increase to 21.4 million diagnoses per year, with 13.2 million cancer deaths, by 2030 unless preventive measures are adopted worldwide.
ACS attributes the predicted increase in diagnoses and death to an aging world population and a rise in lifestyle- and behavior-related cancers such as lung, breast and colorectal disease caused by improved economic development.
The findings come from the second edition of “Global Cancer Facts & Figures” and its academic publication, “Global Cancer Statistics,” published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Both publications were released Feb. 4, World Cancer Day.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates that there were approximately 12.7 million new cancer diagnoses and 7.6 million cancer deaths worldwide in 2008. More than half of those diagnoses, 7.1 million, occurred in developing countries, and those countries accounted for 4.8 million cancer deaths.
The agency took a specific look at cancer in Africa. The continent accounted for approximately 681,000 new cancers and 512,400 deaths in 2008. In keeping with worldwide trends, those numbers are projected to double by 2030 because of population growth and the aging of the population.
Writing in an accompanying editorial, Otis W. Brawley, MD, ACS chief medical officer, said roughly one-third of cancer deaths in 2008 could be attributed to known risk factors, including tobacco use, physical inactivity, diet, infection and alcohol use.
“The worldwide application of existing cancer control knowledge according to the capacity and economic development of countries or regions could lead to the prevention of even more cancer deaths in the next two to three decades,” Brawley wrote. “In order to achieve this, however, national and international public health agencies, governments, donors, and the private sectors must play major roles in the development and implementation of national or regional cancer control programs worldwide.”
The three most commonly diagnosed cancers for men in economically developed countries were prostate, lung and colorectal in 2008, whereas breast, colorectal and lung cancers were most common in women. In economically developing countries, cancers of the lung, stomach and liver were the most frequently diagnosed in men. Breast, cervical and lung cancers were the most commonly diagnosed in women. Roughly one-quarter of cancers are related to infection in developing countries compared with fewer than one in 10 in developed countries.
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