BACKGROUND - A decrease in cancer mortality has been reported in the United States, Europe and other high-income regions during the last two decades. Whether similar trends apply to low-to-middle income countries - and globally - is unclear.
METHODS - The aim of this descriptive study is to compare cancer mortality in all countries with high- or intermediate-quality data on death certificates according to the World Health Organization (WHO) mortality database for the years 2000 through 2010. We included 60 countries in the analysis, and calculated age-adjusted mortality rates for all cancer combined and for the commonest cancers worldwide: lung, stomach, breast, colorectal, uterine, and prostate.
RESULTS - A decrease in overall cancer mortality of approximately 1% per year was observed in higher- and lower- income regions, and in both sexes. In 2010, 696,000 cancer deaths were avoided on a global scale compared to 2000 rates (426,000 in men, 271,000 in women). However, increases in many countries took place for liver cancer in both sexes and lung cancer in females.
CONCLUSIONS - The individual risk of dying from cancer decreased in all countries with reliable data. This decrease was chiefly due to favorable trends in the commonest specific cancers. Liver cancer in both sexes and lung cancer in women, which show increasing mortality rates, constitute a priority for prevention and further research.
Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology / ESMO. 2016 Jan 22 [Epub ahead of print]
D Hashim, P Boffetta, C La Vecchia, M Rota, P Bertuccio, M Malvezzi, E Negri
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Institute of Translational Epidemiology. New York, NY. , Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Institute of Translational Epidemiology. New York, NY. , Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 19 Milano, Italy. , Department of Epidemiology, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', Milan, Italy. , Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 19 Milano, Italy. , Department of Epidemiology, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', Milan, Italy. , Department of Epidemiology, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', Milan, Italy.