Telling Numbers: Lung cancer most common type globally, breast cancer in India

India had an estimated 1.16 million new cancer cases, 7,84,000 deaths and 2.26 million five-year prevalent cases in 2018.

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Globally in 2018, there were 9.6 million cancer deaths, out of which the most were due to lung cancer at 18.4%, followed by colorectum cancer (9.2%), stomach cancer (8.2%), liver (8.2%), breast (6.6%) and cancer of the oesophagus (5.3%).

On World Cancer Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) released two reports that stated, among various figures, that 1 in 10 Indians will develop cancer during their lifetime, and 1 in 15 Indians would die of cancer (The Indian Express, February 4).

India had an estimated 1.16 million new cancer cases, 7,84,000 deaths and 2.26 million five-year prevalent cases in 2018. Globally in 2018, there were 9.6 million cancer deaths, out of which the most were due to lung cancer at 18.4%, followed by colorectum cancer (9.2%), stomach cancer (8.2%), liver (8.2%), breast (6.6%) and cancer of the oesophagus (5.3%).

In India, the six most common cancer types are breast, at 1,62,000, followed by oral (1,20,000), cervical (97,000), lung (68,000) and stomach and colorectal, at 57,000 each. These accounted for 49% of all new cancer cases.

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Among 5,70,000 new cancer cases in men, oral cancer incidence was the highest at 92,000 followed by lung cancer at 49,000. For women, of the 5,87,000 new cancer cases, breast cancer incidence was the highest at 1,62,000, followed by cervical at 97,000.

The report said that cancer patterns in India are dominated by a high burden of tobacco-related head and neck cancers.

Globally, if the present trends continue, there will be a 60 % increase in cancer cases over the next two decades, WHO said.

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