Cancer Burden Rises to 18.1 Million New Cases as Deaths Toll Hits 9.6 Million

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) latest estimates on the global burden of cancer has been released.

The GLOBOCAN 2018 database, which is accessible online, as part of the IARC Global Cancer Observatory, avails estimates of cases and mortality rate in 185 countries for 36 types of cancer and for all the cancer sites combined.

An analysis of the results published on 12th September highlights the varying geographical diversity in cancer diagnosis and the varying magnitude and profile of the illness across the world regions.

The cancer burden globally is estimated to have risen to 18.1 million new cases and 9.6 million deaths in 2018. Everyone in 5 men and one in 6 women in the World develop cancer during their lifetime while everyone in 8 men and one in 11 women die from the illness.

Worldwide, the total number of people who are alive within 5 years of a cancer diagnosis, called the 5-year prevalence, is estimated to be 43.8 million.

Increasing cancer diagnosis has been attributed to a number of factors majorly including the population growth and aging while the changing prevalence of certain causes of cancer is linked to social and economic development.

The data reveals a decrease in some types of cancers namely, lung cancer in men of Northern Europe, North America and cervical cancer in most regions except for sub-Saharan Africa. The decrease in these types of cancers was attributed to effective prevention efforts.

The latest data, however, reveals that most countries are still challenged with an increase in the absolute cases being diagnosed and in need of treatment and care.

According to global patterns, for both genders, nearly half of the new cases and more than half of the cancer deaths worldwide in 2018 are estimated to occur in Asia.

Asia has almost 60 percent of the global population which explains the increase of cancer cases. Europe recorded 23.4 percent of the global cancer cases and 20.3 percent of the cancer deaths, although it has only 9.0 percent of the global population.

The Americans accounted for 13.3 percent of the global population and 21.0 percent of incidence and 14.4 percent of mortality worldwide.

In comparison to other world regions, proportions of cancer deaths in Asia and in Africa are 57.3 percent and 7.3 percent respectively which is higher than the proportions of incident cases 48.4 percent and 5.8 percent respectively. These regions have a higher frequency of certain cancer types associated with poorer prognosis and higher mortality rates, in addition to limited access to timely diagnosis and treatment in many countries in the region.