Global cancer cases up by 33% in last 10 years: Prostate cancer most common cancer in men; breast cancer in women

New Delhi: A new report has shown that there were an estimated 17.5 million cancer cases around the world in 2015, increased by 33 per cent in the last decade.

The report also found that 8.7 million people died due to cancer in 2015.

Between 2005 and 2015, cancer cases increased by 33 per cent, 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.

In women, breast cancer was the most common cancer with 2.4 million cases. It is aslo the leading cause of cancer deaths in women.

Leukemia, other neoplasms, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and brain and nervous system cancers were found to be the most common childhood 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.

(With ANI inputs)