GENEVA (Reuters) – Breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the most common form of the disease, accounting for nearly 12% of new cases worldwide each year, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
“For the first time, breast cancer is now the most common cancer worldwide,” Andre Ilbawi, a cancer specialist at the WHO, said at a UN briefing on Thursday.
Lung cancer has been the most common type for the past two decades, but is now in second place before colorectal cancer, which is the third most common, Ilbawi said.
An estimated 2.3 million new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed last year, representing 11.7% of all cancer cases, the WTO said in a statement. “Among women, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death worldwide,” he said.
Ilbawi noted that obesity in women was a common risk factor in breast cancer, and that it also causes overall cancer rates.
As the world population grows and life expectancy increases, cancer is expected to become more common and in 2040 to about 30 million new cases per year will increase from 19.3 million in 2020, Ilbawi said.
The WHO, warning against risk factors, said about one-third of cancer deaths were due to tobacco use, high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity and alcohol use.
The coronavirus pandemic is disrupting cancer treatment in about half of the countries surveyed, Ilbawi said. He pointed to delays with the diagnosis, health workers are under tremendous stress and research is being influenced.
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson and Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)