BMJ 2014;348:g1338 doi: 10.1136/bmj.

g1338 (Published 4 February 2014)

Page 1 of 1

News

NEWS
Global cancer prevalence is growing at alarming
pace, says WHO
Anne Gulland
London

The worldwide burden of cancer is growing at an alarming

pace, and treatment alone is not the way to prevent a cancer
crisis, a major report into the worldwide prevalence of the
disease has warned.1

The World Cancer Report 2014, published by the World Health

Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer,
said that in 2012 the global incidence of cancer rose to an
estimated 14 million new cases, a figure expected to rise to an
annual 19.3 million by 2025.

The worlds commonest cancer is lung cancer, making up 13%

of the total number in 2012, followed by breast cancer (11.9%),
colorectal cancer (9.7%), and prostate cancer (7.9%). Among
men lung cancer is the most common (16.7% of the total),
followed by prostate (15%) and colorectal (10%) cancers.
Among women the most common is breast cancer (25.5%),
followed by colorectal (9.2%) and lung (8.7%).
Most cancers occur in the less developed regions of the world,
with 60% of cancers and 70% of deaths from cancer occurring
in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. The numbers
are higher there because these regions are more populous, but
lack of early detection and of access to treatment exacerbate the
situation, said the report.

Christopher Wild, a coeditor of the report and director of the

International Agency for Research on Cancer, said that treatment
alone was not a sufficient response to the global burden of
cancer.

One of the key conclusions of the report, particularly among

low and middle income countries, is that its untenable to think
we can treat our way out of the cancer problem. We need a
balanced, integrated approach with a greater emphasis on
prevention that complements treatment, he told a press
conference to launch the report.
The reports projections of growth in the prevalence of cancers
are based purely on demographic change, such as the growing
proportion of elderly people, rather than on changes in risk
factors. But as countries became richer they would expect to

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see an increase in the number of cases of cancer of the prostate

and colorectum, accompanied by declines in the number of
cancers associated with infection, the report said. With this taken
into account, the number of new cases in 2025 would stand at
24 million rather than the 19 million derived from purely
demographic models, said Freddie Bray, an associate editor of
the report.
Wild said that nearly half of all cancers could be prevented,
because tobacco use, infections, obesity and physical inactivity,
excessive alcohol consumption, high exposure to sunlight, and
workplace hazards were all factors contributing to the
development of cancer. Tobacco caused 20% of all cancers, he
said, and infections such as hepatitis B and human
papillomavirus were responsible for 16%.
In sub-Saharan Africa 33% of all cancers were associated with
infection, whereas the proportions were 27% in China, 4% in
North America, and 3.3% in Australia and New Zealand.

Wild said that more research into diet improvement and how
to increase peoples amount of physical activity was needed.
He said that countries were beginning to tackle these problems
but added, Theres no discussion of observational studies being
built into these interventions. Things are being tried but without,
in my mind, sufficient scientific evaluation. This kind of
research is really underfunded.
Bernard Stewart, coeditor of the report, said that WHOs
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control , ratified in 2003,
exemplified the systematic, whole system approach needed to
tackle the lifestyle challenge.

[The framework] emphasises the spectrum of activity that the

community can engage in to support people to give their smokes
[cigarettes] away, he said.
1

International Agency for Research on Cancer. World cancer report 2014. 4 Feb 2014.
www.iarc.fr/en/publications/books/wcr/wcr-order.php.

Cite this as: BMJ 2014;348:g1338

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