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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Tomorrow, Just Like Today, 20,000 Will Die from
Cancer Worldwide
World reaches 12 million cases; Tobacco to
kill a billion this century
 Dec. 17, 2007 Because people are living longer,
particularly in developing nations, the number of cancer cases and
deaths are on the rise, since the disease primarily strikes older
people. A new American Cancer Society report estimates that there will
be over 12 million new cancer cases and 7.6 million cancer deaths (about
20,000 cancer deaths a day) worldwide in 2007. The new report also
projects more than one billion will die in this century from tobacco
use.
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The estimate comes from the first-ever Global
Cancer Facts & Figures, the latest addition to the American Cancer
Societys family of Facts & Figures publications.
The report estimates that 5.4 million of those
cancers and 2.9 million deaths will occur in economically developed
countries, while 6.7 million cases and 4.7 million deaths will occur in
economically developing countries.
These projections were based on incidence and
mortality data from the Globocan 2002 database compiled by the
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
In economically developed countries, the three most
commonly diagnosed cancers in men are prostate, lung, and colorectal
cancer.
Among women, they are breast, colorectal, and lung
cancer.
In contrast, the three most commonly diagnosed
cancers in economically developing countries are cancers of the lung,
stomach, and liver in men, and cancers of the breast, cervix uteri, and
stomach in women.
In developing countries, two of the three leading
cancers in men (stomach and liver) and in women (cervix and stomach) are
related to infection.
In both economically developed and developing
countries, the three most common cancer sites are also the three leading
causes of cancer death.
Approximately 15 percent of all cancers worldwide
are infection-related, with the percentage of cancers related to
infection about three times higher in developing than in developed
countries (26 percent versus 8 percent).
The burden of cancer is increasing in developing
countries as deaths from infectious diseases and childhood mortality
decline and more people live to older ages when cancer most frequently
occurs, said Ahmedin Jemal, PhD, American Cancer Society epidemiologist
and co-author of the report.
This cancer burden is also increasing as people in
the developing countries adopt western lifestyles such as cigarette
smoking, higher consumption of saturated fat and calorie-dense foods,
and reduced physical activity.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
estimates that in 2002 there were approximately 24.6 million people
worldwide who had been diagnosed with cancer in the past five years.
Survival rates for many cancers are poorer in
economically developing countries than in developed countries largely
because of lack of availability of early detection and treatment
services. For example, overall five-year childhood cancer survival rates
are around 75 percent in Europe and North America, compared to
three-year survival rates of only 48 to 62 percent in Central American
countries.
Special Section: The Tobacco Epidemic
The publication includes a special section on
tobaccos increasing toll. An estimated five million people worldwide
died from tobacco use in the year 2000. Of these, about 30 percent (1.42
million) resulted from cancer, with 850,000 deaths from lung cancer
alone.
Overall, tobacco was responsible for about 100
million deaths around the world during the 20th century, and it is
projected to kill more than 1 billion people in the 21st century, with
the great majority of these deaths occurring in developing countries.
The report says halting the rapid diffusion of
tobacco consumption to developing countries is an urgent global health
priority.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that
approximately 84 percent of the approximately 1.3 billion smokers in the
world live in countries with a developing or transitional economy.
In China alone, there are 350 million smokers, more
than the entire population of the U.S. If current smoking prevalence
patterns continue, there will be two billion smokers worldwide by the
year 2030, half of whom will die of smoking-related diseases if they do
not quit.
About American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is dedicated to
eliminating cancer as a major health problem by saving lives,
diminishing suffering and preventing cancer through research, education,
advocacy and service. Founded in 1913 and with national headquarters in
Atlanta, the Society has 13 regional Divisions and local offices in
3,400 communities, involving millions of volunteers across the United
States.
For more information anytime, call toll free
1-800-ACS-2345 or visit
www.cancer.org.
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