Cancer Killed Almost 8 Million Worldwide in 2007

MONDAY, Dec. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Cancer continues to cut a deadlyswath across the globe, with the American Cancer Society reporting 12million new cases of malignancy diagnosed worldwide in 2007, with 7.6million people dying from the disease.
The report, Global Cancer Facts & Figures, finds that 5.4million of those cancers and 2.9 million deaths are in more affluent,developed nations, while 6.7 million new cancer cases and 4.7 milliondeaths hit people in developing countries.
"The point of the report is to promote cancer control worldwide, andincrease awareness worldwide," said report co-author Dr. Ahmedin Jemal,director of the society's Cancer Occurrence Office.
The number of cancers and cancer deaths around the world is on therise, Jemal said, mostly due to an aging population. "There is increasinglife expectancy, and cancer occurs more frequently in older age groups,"he noted.
Lifestyle may be another reason for the rise in malignancies indeveloping countries, Jemal said, as people adopt Western behaviors suchas smoking, high-fat diets and less physical activity.
The best way to stem the increasing number of cancer cases and deathsis prevention, especially in poorer countries, the expert said. In manydeveloping nations, the health-care infrastructure simply isn't there tooffer cancer screening and treatment for most people, Jemal added.
In developed countries, the most common cancers among men are prostate,lung and colorectal cancer. Among women, the most common cancers arebreast, colorectal and lung cancer, according to the report.
However, in developing countries the three most common cancers amongmen are lung, stomach and liver, and among women, breast, cervix uteri andstomach.
Worldwide, some 15 percent of all cancers are thought to be related toinfections, including hepatitis (liver cancer) and human papilloma virus(cervical cancer). But the incidence of infection-related cancers remainsthree times higher in developing countries compared with developedcountries (26 percent vs. 8 percent), according to the report.
In addition, cancer survival rates in many developing countries are farbelow those in developed countries. This is mostly due to the lack ofearly detection and treatment services. For example, in North Americafive-year childhood cancer survival rates are about 75 percent comparedwith three-year survival rates of 48 percent to 62 percent in CentralAmerica, the report notes. The report estimates that 60 percent of theworld's children who develop cancer have little or no access totreatment.
The report also includes a section on the toll tobacco use takes aroundthe world. In 2000, some 5 million people worldwide died from tobacco use.Of these, about 30 percent (1.42 million) died from cancer -- 850,000 fromlung cancer alone.
Jemal believes smoking is a key culprit.
"Smoking prevalence is decreasing in developed countries. So, astobacco companies are losing market in developed countries they are tryingto expand their market in developing countries," he said.
In China alone, more than 350 million people smoke. "That's more thanthe entire population of the United States," Jemal said. "If these currentpatterns continue, there will be 2 billion smokers worldwide by the year2030, half of whom will die of smoking-related diseases if they do notquit," he added.
In the 20th century, tobacco use caused about 100 million deaths aroundthe world. In this century, that figure is expected to rise to over 1billion people. Most of these will occur in developing countries.
One expert agreed that many cancer deaths can be avoided throughlifestyle changes.
"What is most provocative here is not the total global burden ofsuffering and death cancer causes, dramatic though that may be, but thevariations in cancer occurrence around the world, and the insightsprovided about how much of the cancer burden need not occur at all," saidDr. David Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at YaleUniversity School of Medicine.
In developing countries, cancer of the uterine cervix is a leadingcause of death in women, Katz noted.
"Yet this infection-related cancer is now preventable by vaccine, andlong treatable when detected early using the Pap smear. As a result, deathfrom cervical cancer in developed countries is dramatically lower. Itstoll in the developing world is testimony to missed opportunities to applyour resources effectively, and equitably," he said.
Cancer of the liver, often related to hepatitis infection, is a leadingcause of death in developing countries, but not so in developed countries."Again, an infection preventable with vaccine is causing death because ofinequities in the distribution and use of existing resources," Katzsaid.
Prostate and colon cancers are more common in wealthier countries,where they are likely related to poor diet and obesity, Katz said."Unnecessary suffering and death are occurring in affluent countries dueto dietary excesses," he said.
Katz also noted that tobacco-related cancer is largely preventable."The toll of tobacco-related disease, including lung cancer, is anappalling example of a global willingness to tolerate preventablesuffering and death for the sake of profit," he said.
These data show both developed and developing countries how to movetoward the lower rates of specific cancers, Katz said.
"It will be a tragic failure for public health if instead of applyingthese lessons developed countries continue to export tobacco and dietarytransgressions so that the developing world adds to its current cancerburden ours as well," he said.
More information
For more information on cancer, visit the American CancerSociety.