This is the most common cancer and the one that kills the most in the world (and it can be avoided)

Cancer continues to increase and is expected to continue moving steadily over the next few years. The latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there will be approximately 77% new cases by 2050. In addition, new estimates available from the IARC Global Cancer Observatory, which cover 185 countries and 36 cancers , show that 10 types of cancer together accounted for around two-thirds of new cases and deaths globally in 2022. Lung cancer was the most common cancer worldwide, with 2.5 million new cases accounting for 12.4% of the total new diagnoses. Acquired female breast cancer ranked second (2.3 million cases, 11.6%), followed by colorectal cancer (1.9 million cases, 9.6%), prostate cancer (1.5 million of cases, 7.3%) and stomach cancer (970,000 cases, 4.9%). Lung cancer was also the most lethal of tumors (1.8 million deaths, 18.7% of total cancer deaths), followed by colorectal cancer (900,000 deaths, 9.3%), liver cancer (760,000 deaths, 7.8%), breast cancer (670,000 deaths, 6.9%) and stomach cancer (660,000 deaths, 6.8%). The resurgence of lung cancer as the most common tumor is likely related to persistent tobacco use in Asia, they note in the WHO report. There are differences by sex in incidence and mortality with respect to the world total. In women, the most common cancer diagnosed and the main cause of tumor death was breast cancer, which is also the most common in most countries (157 out of 185), while for men it was lung cancer. In men, prostate and colorectal cancers were the second and third most common cancers, while liver and colorectal tumors were the second and third most common causes of cancer death. For women, lung and colorectal cancer ranked second and third in both number of new cases and deaths. Cervical cancer was the eighth most common cancer worldwide and the ninth cause of cancer death, with 661,044 new cases and 348,186 deaths. It is the most common cancer in women in 25 countries, many of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. Even if the different levels of incidence are recognized, cervical cancer can be eliminated as a public health problem by expanding the WHO Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative. In Spain, lung cancer is also the tumor that caused the most deaths in 2022. In men it was the first cause of death from cancer and in women, the second most deadly, according to data from the INE. Precisely the report “Cancer figures in Spain 2024″, which was recently presented by the Spanish Society of Oncology (SEO), in collaboration with the Spanish Network of Cancer Registries (REDECAN), warned that the number of cancer cases continues to increase. of lung in women compared to previous years (12.3% more compared to 2023) and has consolidated, since 2019, as the third most incident tumor in this sex in 2024, increasingly distant from cancer of the uterine body than a few years back he occupied that position. A fact that is related to the increase in tobacco consumption in women since the 70s. «15 years ago it was not even among the top 10 for women and now it is third, it is increasing and survival is low,” warned Jaume Galcerán, president of Redecan, during the presentation of the report. Tobacco, alcohol, sedentary lifestyle, inadequate diets and infections continue to be the most important and preventable risk factors related to cancer. In this sense, “up to a third of deaths from tumors are avoidable,” said the president of the SEOM, César A. Rodríguez, during the presentation of the report. The expert recalled that tobacco is behind 90% of lung cancers and 20% of all tumors; or that 12,000 deaths a year from cancer are related to alcohol consumption. “It acts in synergy with tobacco and not only increases the risk of oral or esophageal cancer, but also breast and colorectal cancer,” he explained.