Global cancer cases up by 33% in last decade: Study

There were an estimated 17.5 million cancer cases around the world and 8.7 million deaths in 2015, according to a new report which shows that the cases increased by 33% in the last decade.

Between 2005 and 2015, cancer cases increased by 33%, mostly due to population ageing and growth plus changes in age-specific cancer rates, the report said.

The report by Christina Fitzmaurice from the University of Washington in the US and colleagues shows that prostate cancer was the most common cancer globally in men (1.6 million cases) and tracheal, bronchus and lung (TBL) cancer was the leading cause of cancer deaths for men. Breast cancer was the most common cancer for women (2.4 million cases) and the leading cause of cancer deaths in women, the report said. The most common childhood cancers were leukemia, other neoplasms, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and brain and nervous system cancers.

Researchers estimated cancer deaths using vital registration system data, cancer registry incidence data and verbal autopsy data. Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and estimates of its burden around the globe are vital for cancer control planning, the report said.

Globally, the odds of developing cancer during a lifetime were one in three for men and one in four for women, it added. "Cancer control, which requires a detailed understanding of the cancer burden as provided in the GBD [Global Burden of Disease study], is of utmost importance given the rise in cancer incidence due to epidemiological and demographic transition," the researchers said.

The study was published in the journal JAMA Oncology.