World cancer report increase in cancer

World Cancer Report: Cancer will continue to increase in 2014 as well

03/02/2014

The outlook for the World Cancer Report is bleak. A cure for the disease will not be available in the foreseeable future. Cancer is rapidly becoming the scourge of humanity. As a rule, an interaction of several factors leads to the development of cancer. It does not arise suddenly out of the blue, as occurs, for example, in a flu infection. It can be assumed that cancer has already undergone several years of development at the time of diagnosis.

About one in four dies of cancer in Germany. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts a large increase in new cases by 2015, and along with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), calls for stricter legislation and large-scale preparedness campaigns.

By 2025, 20 million new cases are expected
It could lead to 20 million new cases every year by 2025, according to a WHO study. That's about 40 percent more than is currently the case. The Cancer Report 2014 published on Monday estimated some 14 million new cases in 2012. 8.2 million people died as a result of uncontrolled malignant cell proliferation. For the next two decades, an increase to 70 percent is not unrealistic. The figures were calculated by the WHO in part because of the predicted rapid population growth and increasing life expectancy as a result of medical-technical progress. The harmful lifestyle of emerging economies, which has already taken place in Western European countries and contributes to the current figures, will also be noticeable.

WHO and IRAC call for stricter anti-smoking laws
For an effective fight against cancer, however, an increasingly efficient treatment of the disease is not enough. Therapy possibilities have been "exciting new developments" in recent years, said IARC director Christopher Wild. "But we can not solve the cancer problem by treatments alone, and countries need to do something together around the world, first and foremost to tighten anti-smoking legislation and regulate alcohol and sugary drinks.“ The consumption must be limited, so the opinion of the expert.

"Proper legislation can promote healthier behavior," said co-author Bernard Stewart. As has been shown in the past with smoking, higher taxes, bans on advertising and prevention campaigns have already been successful. Governments must also offer more screening for the population. But that alone will not be enough. The effects of obesity and increasing air pollution, both of which play a crucial role in the development of cancer, will need to be addressed and given more attention in the future.

Lung cancer is particularly prevalent
According to the report, the number of new cases of lung cancer has risen dramatically. So it came in 1.8 million people in 2012 to the diagnosis. With about 1.6 million deaths, lung cancer has the highest death rate, followed by liver cancer (750,000) and gastric cancer (over 700,000). This is ultimately due to the poor chances of recovery. After all, this is the proportion of 13 percent and the largest increase in breast cancer, 1.7 million, (11.9 percent) and colorectal cancer with 1.4 million (9.7 percent). It is also striking that poorer countries have the most cancer victims to complain about. According to it, about 70 percent of all cancer-related deaths in Asia, Central and South America occur. The WHO sees the lack of diagnostic options as a reason for this.

Increase in new cases
The WHO estimated that there were a good 3.4 million new cases in 2012, of which 13.5 percent were breast cancer, 13 percent colon cancer, 12.1 percent prostate cancer and 11.9 percent lung cancer.
A positive factor is the fact that in 2012, the cancer diagnosis of five million men and women in Europe was already five years ago. One fifth of these survivors were breast cancer patients, just under 17 percent had prostate cancer, and over 13 percent had overcome colon cancer. In total, more than 250 researchers from 40 countries had contributed to the report. (Fr)

Picture credits: tokamuwi