Re: Cancer Killed Almost 8 Million Worldwide in 2007
- From: tony <titan198042@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:03:27 -0800 (PST)
On Dec 18, 4:06 am, J <nswex@nalid;non> wrote:
<http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/071217/cancer-killed...
Cancer Killed Almost 8 Million Worldwide in 2007
Cancer Killed Almost 8 Million Worldwide in 2007
12 million new cases -- many preventable -- were diagnosed this year,
American Cancer Society reports
By Steven Reinberg
Posted 12/17/07
MONDAY, Dec. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Cancer continues to cut a deadly swath
across the globe, with the American Cancer Society reporting 12 million
new cases of malignancy diagnosed worldwide in 2007, with 7.6 million
people dying from the disease.
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The report, Global Cancer Facts & Figures, finds that 5.4 million of those
cancers and 2.9 million deaths are in more affluent, developed nations,
while 6.7 million new cancer cases and 4.7 million deaths hit people in
developing countries.
"The point of the report is to promote cancer control worldwide, and
increase 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 the rise,
Jemal said, mostly due to an aging population. "There is increasing life
expectancy, and cancer occurs more frequently in older age groups," he
noted.
Lifestyle may be another reason for the rise in malignancies in developing
countries, Jemal said, as people adopt Western behaviors such as smoking,
high-fat diets and less physical activity.
The best way to stem the increasing number of cancer cases and deaths is
prevention, especially in poorer countries, the expert said. In many
developing nations, the health-care infrastructure simply isn't there to
offer 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 are
breast, colorectal and lung cancer, according to the report.
However, in developing countries the three most common cancers among men
are lung, stomach and liver, and among women, breast, cervix uteri and
stomach.
Worldwide, some 15 percent of all cancers are thought to be related to
infections, including hepatitis (liver cancer) and human papilloma virus
(cervical cancer). But the incidence of infection-related cancers remains
three times higher in developing countries compared with developed
countries (26 percent vs. 8 percent), according to the report.
In addition, cancer survival rates in many developing countries are far
below those in developed countries. This is mostly due to the lack of
early detection and treatment services. For example, in North America
five-year childhood cancer survival rates are about 75 percent compared
with three-year survival rates of 48 percent to 62 percent in Central
America, the report notes. The report estimates that 60 percent of the
world's children who develop cancer have little or no access to treatment.
The report also includes a section on the toll tobacco use takes around
the 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 from
lung cancer alone.
Jemal believes smoking is a key culprit.
"Smoking prevalence is decreasing in developed countries. So, as tobacco
companies are losing market in developed countries they are trying to
expand their market in developing countries," he said.
In China alone, more than 350 million people smoke. "That's more than the
entire population of the United States," Jemal said. "If these current
patterns continue, there will be 2 billion smokers worldwide by the year
2030, half of whom will die of smoking-related diseases if they do not
quit," he added.
In the 20th century, tobacco use caused about 100 million deaths around
the world. In this century, that figure is expected to rise to over 1
billion people. Most of these will occur in developing countries.
One expert agreed that many cancer deaths can be avoided through lifestyle
changes.
"What is most provocative here is not the total global burden of suffering
and death cancer causes, dramatic though that may be, but the variations
in cancer occurrence around the world, and the insights provided about how
much of the cancer burden need not occur at all," said Dr. David Katz,
director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of
Medicine.
In developing countries, cancer of the uterine cervix is a leading cause
of death in women, Katz noted.
"Yet this infection-related cancer is now preventable by vaccine, and long
treatable when detected early using the Pap smear. As a result, death from
cervical cancer in developed countries is dramatically lower. Its toll in
the developing world is testimony to missed opportunities to apply our
resources effectively, and equitably," he said.
Cancer of the liver, often related to hepatitis infection, is a leading
cause of death in developing countries, but not so in developed countries.
"Again, an infection preventable with vaccine is causing death because of
inequities in the distribution and use of existing resources," Katz said.
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 due to dietary
excesses," he said.
Katz also noted that tobacco-related cancer is largely preventable. "The
toll of tobacco-related disease, including lung cancer, is an appalling
example of a global willingness to tolerate preventable suffering and
death for the sake of profit," he said.
These data show both developed and developing countries how to move toward
the lower rates of specific cancers, Katz said.
"It will be a tragic failure for public health if instead of applying
these lessons developed countries continue to export tobacco and dietary
transgressions so that the developing world adds to its current cancer
burden ours as well," he said.
tobacco is glamorized and packaged in all forms of media. the number
is astounding, over 8 million and counting.
.
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