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Twenty million new cases in 2022, nearly 10 million deaths, lungs, breasts and colon first organs affected: six key data on cancer released Thursday by the WHO on the occasion of the world day organized on Sunday.
20 million new cases
This disease, characterized by the proliferation of malignant cells, affects five continents and all population categories, even if the elderly are much more often affected.
The World Health Organization (WHO) agency specializing in this disease, the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer), estimates the number of cancers diagnosed worldwide at 19.96 million in 2022.
According to data from 185 countries, the IARC anticipates an increase of 50% in the annual number of new cases diagnosed between 2022 and 2040 (around 30 million), and of 77% between 2022 and 2050 (35 million anticipated).
On average, one in five people will develop cancer during their lifetime, anticipates Doctor Freddie Bray, head of the IARC cancer surveillance unit.
“The rapid increase in the global burden of cancer reflects both population aging and growth, as well as changes in people’s exposure to risk factors“, according to the IARC, citing tobacco, alcohol, obesity and air pollution as “key factors in the increase in incidence”.
According to the American institute IHME (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation), in 2019 the number of cancers in the world showed an increase of more than 25% over the decade.
Strong geographical disparities
Asia concentrates almost half of the cases detected in 2022 according to the IARC (9.8 million), a logical figure if we consider that more than half of the world’s population lives in this region.
Less logical in view of the demographic weight, Europe (in the broad sense, Russia included) alone concentrates almost a quarter of diagnoses (4.5 million).
This trait is explained by “record incidence rates for widespread cancers such as prostate and breast in many European countries“, explains Dr. Bray.
Conversely, less than 6% of global cases are detected in Africa, which nevertheless concentrates nearly 20% of the world population: it is in this region, where the population is particularly young, that the cancer occurrence rates are the lowest with the exception of cervical cancer.
A matter of age
Cancer mainly affects the elderly: three quarters of diagnoses concern those over 55.
Conversely, those under 29 represent barely more than 3% of cancers detected, even though they represent nearly 50% of the world population.
Cancer can appear at any age but the risk increases sharply with aging due to age-related cellular, molecular and physiological changes, in particular the accumulation of DNA mutations favorable to this disease.
Nearly 10 million dead
The number of cancer deaths has been estimated at 9.74 million for the year 2022 by the IARC, which anticipates an increase of almost 90% in deaths by 2050.
This disease is the second leading cause of death worldwide, behind cardiovascular diseases.
The Asian continent has by far the largest number of cancer deaths: 56% of the total, ahead of Europe (Russia included – 20%) followed by Latin America, Africa and North America (around 7%). for each of these regions).
Gendered disease?
Cancer kills more men than women: out of 100 deaths, on average 56 are men for 44 women.
Main explanation: lung cancer kills the most with 1.8 million deaths in 2022 and it is men, historically the heaviest smokers, who are the first to be affected.
“But women suffer almost as much from cancer overall, and often earlier.“, emphasizes Dr. Bray.
Lung, breast, colon
The three most frequently detected cancers in the world are lung cancer (2.5 million cases – 12.4% of total diagnosed cancers), breast cancer (2.3 million cases – 11.6% ) and colorectal cancer (1.9 million cases – 9.6%).
In terms of mortality, smoker’s cancer predominates with 18.7% of deaths, ahead of colorectal cancer (9.3%), liver cancer (7.8%) and breast cancer (6.9%). .
Slide: Misconceptions about cancer