WUNRN
BREAST, CERVIX CANCER INCREASING,
ESPECIALLY AMONG POOR - STUDY
15 Sep 2011 - Reuters
A cancer patient receives treatment at a hospital in the eastern
Indian city of
By Kate Kelland
LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The
number of cases and deaths from breast and cervical cancer is rising in most
countries across the world, especially in poorer nations where more women are
dying at younger ages, according to a global study of the diseases.
Researchers from the Institute
for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the
During the same period, deaths
from breast cancer rose from 250,000 a year to 425,000 a year -- a much slower
increase, suggesting that screening and treatment programmes now common in
wealthier countries are having a positive impact.
The number of cervical cancer
cases rose from 378,000 cases in 1980 to 454,000 in 2010, and deaths from
cervical cancer rose at almost the same pace as cases, according to the study
published in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday.
"Women in high-income
countries like the
He said this was one of the
early signs of the emerging threat of so-called non-communicable or chronic
diseases, in developing countries. "Everyone has been talking about that
threat. Now the trend is clear," he said.
The study found that since
1980, new cases and deaths from cervical cancer have increased mainly in south
and east Asia, Latin America, and
However, the disease still
killed 200,000 women around the world in 2010, of whom 46,000 were from
developing countries and were of reproductive age.
The researchers said the
findings added urgency to calls from public health experts to world leaders to
make cancer screening, treatment, and education a priority in poor nations.
The United Nations is holding a
high-level meeting dedicated to chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease,
lung disease and diabetes in
"If more women are
developing breast and cervical cancer during their reproductive years, this
adds more pressure on families and societies already suffering from high rates
of infectious disease and child mortality," said Mohammad Forouzanfar of
the IHME, who led the study.
Breast and cervical screening
programmes have been in place in many rich countries for several decades,
designed to catch cancers early and maximise the potential for effective
treatment.
Many effective breast cancer
treatments are also available to women in the rich world. More recently,
national immunisation programmes using new vaccines from drugmakers Merck and
GlaxoSmithKline have been launched to protect girls from the human
papillomavirus (HPV) that causes almost all cervical cancers.
Partly as a result of these
rich-world benefits, the study found that while in 1980, 65 percent of all
breast cancer cases were in developed countries, by 2010, that share had shrunk
to less than half. Some poorer countries saw a rise in breast cancer cases of
more than 7.5 percent a year over the 30 year period studied -- more than twice
the global rate.
The risk of cervical cancer is
much higher in developing countries than in developed ones. Overall, 76 percent
of new cervical cancer cases are in developing regions. Sub-Saharan