Washington: Despite huge advances in
prevention and treatment, cancer is poised to become the
leading cause of death worldwide as people refuse to ditch bad
habits and the population ages, experts have said.
In the United States, medical advances and education
campaigns have helped slash the death rate from cancer by
nearly 16 per cent in 20 years, American Cancer Society
epidemiologist Susan Gapstur told reporters at the launch of a
cancer-themed edition of the Journal of the American Medical
Association Tuesday.
But cancer still struck 1.5 million people and killed
560,000 in the United States in 2009 and experts predict it
will this year edge out heart disease to become the most
deadly disease worldwide.
One reason is because cancer usually strikes people later
in life, from age 55 upwards, so as people live longer and the
population ages; the risk of being diagnosed with cancer has
risen: nearly half of men and a third of women will be
diagnosed during their lifetime with cancer, Gapstur said.
Another reason is the poor lifestyle choices people make. With more and more people around the world taking up
smoking, Gapstur predicted a "worldwide cancer epidemic" that
will help cancer to "overtake ischemic heart disease as the
number one cause of mortality in the world this year."
PTI