Cancer has been recognized globally as a killer disease. Annually, tens of millions of people receive a cancer diagnosis all over the world. At least 50 percent of the diagnosed die from the disease. In many countries, cancer ranks as the second most common cause of death, just after cardiovascular diseases.
Because there has been some advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, cancer is on the verge of becoming the number one killer in many parts of the world. Note that the geriatric population is most susceptible to cancer, and the geriatric population is increasing the world over, as such, cancer may remain a major health problem around the globe.
A look at the GLOBOCAN database has shown that as at 2002, 10,862,496 new cancer cases were discovered. This excludes skin cancer though. 53.4 percent of these, numbering 5,801,839 were make while 46.6% (numbering 5,060,657) were female. The Asian continent contributed to 45 percent of new diagnosis, Europe 26 percent, 7 percent in Latin America, 15 percent in North America, and 6 percent in Africa. Lung cancer was the most common globally, affecting both males and females (965,446 males and 386,875 females yearly). Colon cancer was the second most common site with 550,513 males and 472,743 females, with stomach cancer trailing behind with 603,003 males and 330,290 females. Breast cancer took the number one spot among women (with 1,152,161 new cases recorded yearly), followed by cancer of the cervix (493,100 cases) and colon cancer (472,743 cases). The most common cancer sites in men were lung (965,446 cases), stomach (603,003 cases) and prostate (679,060 cases).
More frightening statistics show that 6,723,887 cancer deaths occurred in 2002 of which 3,795,991 were males and 2,927,896 were female. The most cancer deaths in the world was caused by lung cancer. In 2002, a death toll of 1,179,074 was attributed to lung cancer, of which 330,753 were female and 848,321 were female. Stomach cancer was second on the list, causing a death toll of 699,803 deaths with females taking 254,112 and males 445,691. The third cause of cancer mortality was liver cancer with a total of 598,412 deaths (81,486 female and 416,926 male).
For women, the top three sites for cancer mortality were breast (411,093 deaths), lung (330,753), and cervix uteri (273,449 deaths). In men, it was lung, stomach and liver with 848,321; 445,691 and 416,926 respectively.
As at 2016, 196.3 million human life years were lost to cancer across 188 countries with one in three men being diagnosed of cancerous tumor, and one in five women being diagnosed of same.