Lets get a cure!!!!Cancer to kill 7.6 million worldwide in 2007
17/12/2007 1:14:48 PM
About 7.6 million people around the world will die of cancer this year, the American Cancer Society reports.
CTV.ca News Staff
A student smokes a cigarette in a cafe in Paris on Oct. 3, 2006. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
Many of those deaths -- 975,000 men and 376,000 women -- will be the result of lung cancer caused by smoking, the agency reports in its Global Cancer Facts and Figures 2007.
About 84 per cent of the nearly 1.3 billion smokers worldwide live in developing countries, says the World Health Organization. If current patterns continue, the number of smokers worldwide will reach 2 billion by 2030.
Using data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, the ACS estimates that about 12.3 million people will develop cancer this year.
In the developed world, about 5.4 million people will get cancer and 2.9 million will die of it, the report estimates. In developing nations, there will 6.7 million cases and 4.7 million deaths, they estimate.
The number of cancers and cancer deaths around the world are both on the rise, mostly due to an aging population, since cancer occurs more frequently in older age groups. Lifestyle is another reason for the rise in cancer worldwide, as more people are exposed to Western-style high-fat, high-calorie diets.
Viruses and bacteria also account for a significant number of cancers, particularly in developing countries. In fact, about 26 per cent of cancers in the developing world are caused by infections -- three times the rate in developed nations.
For example, infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a type of bacteria, is thought to be a major cause of stomach cancer. Infection by the human papillomavirus (HPV) is known to be a strong risk factor for cervical cancer, which is often fatal in the developing world. And liver cancer is linked to hepatitis B and C infections, both rampant in Africa and East Asia.
In developing countries, the three most commonly diagnosed cancers among men are:
stomach
lung
liver cancer
Among women in developing countries, the most commonly diagnosed cancers are:
breast
cervix
stomach
In the developed world, by contrast, the most commonly diagnosed cancers in men are:
prostate
lung
colorectal
...while among women, the most common were:
breast
colorectal
lung cancer
Perhaps not surprisingly, survival rates are lower in less developed parts of the world, where the health-care infrastructure is simply inadequate to offer cancer screening and treatment for most people.
For example, the five-year survival rates for children with cancer in Europe and North America was estimated at around 75 per cent, but in Central America, it is only about only 48 to 62 per cent.
The report estimates that 60 per cent of the world's children who develop cancer have little or no access to treatment.
The International Agency for Research says their information on cancer incidence covers about 21 per cent of the world population.
In countries with no cancer registry -- as is the case in most developing countries -- incidence rates were estimated based on mortality data or incidence rates in neighboring countries.