Objective The global burden of colorectal cancer (CRC) is expected to increase by 60% to more than 2.2 million new cases and 1.1 million deaths by 2030. In this study, we aim to describe the recent CRC incidence and mortality patterns and trends linking the findings to the prospects of reducing the burden through cancer prevention and care. Design Estimates of sex-specific CRC incidence and mortality rates in 2012 were extracted from the GLOBOCAN database. Temporal patterns were assessed for 37 countries using data from Cancer Incidence in Five Continents (CI5) volumes I–X and the WHO mortality database. Trends were assessed via the annual percentage change using joinpoint regression and discussed in relation to human development levels. Results CRC incidence and mortality rates vary up to 10-fold worldwide, with distinct gradients across human development levels, pointing towards widening disparities and an increasing burden in countries in transition. Generally, CRC incidence and mortality rates are still rising rapidly in many low-income and middle-income countries; stabilising or decreasing trends tend to be seen in highly developed countries where rates remain among the highest in the world. Conclusions Patterns and trends in CRC incidence and mortality correlate with present human development levels and their incremental changes might reflect the adoption of more western lifestyles. Targeted resource-dependent interventions, including primary prevention in low-income, supplemented with early detection in high-income settings, are needed to reduce the number of patients with CRC in future decades.

https://gut.bmj.com/content/gutjnl/66/4/683.full.pdf

Global patterns and trends in colorectal cancer incidence and mortality

High-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era: time for a revolution

Screening for Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Mutations in Lung Cancer

The health burden of cancer is increasing in China, with more than 1·6 million people being diagnosed and 1·2 million people dying of the disease each year. As in most other countries, breast cancer is now the most common cancer in Chinese women; cases in China account for 12·2% of all newly diagnosed breast cancers and 9·6% of all deaths from breast cancer worldwide. China's proportional contribution to global rates is increasing rapidly because of the population's rising socioeconomic status and unique reproductive patterns. In this Review we present an overview of present control measures for breast cancer across China, and emphasise epidemiological and socioeconomic diversities and disparities in access to care for various subpopulations. We describe demographic differences between China and high-income countries, and also within geographical and socioeconomic regions of China. These disparities between China and high-income countries include younger age at onset of breast cancer; the unique one-child policy; lower rates of provision and uptake for screening for breast cancer; delays in diagnosis that result in more advanced stage of disease at presentation; inadequate resources; and a lack of awareness about breast cancer in the Chinese population. Finally, we recommend key measures that could contribute to improved health outcomes for patients with breast cancer in China.

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanonc/PIIS1470204513705679.pdf

Breast cancer in China

Summary Cancer is one of the major non-communicable diseases posing a threat to world health. Unfortunately, improvements in socioeconomic conditions are usually associated with increased cancer incidence. In this Commission, we focus on China, India, and Russia, which share rapidly rising cancer incidence and have cancer mortality rates that are nearly twice as high as in the UK or the USA, vast geographies, growing economies, ageing populations, increasingly westernised lifestyles, relatively disenfranchised subpopulations, serious contamination of the environment, and uncontrolled cancer-causing communicable infections. We describe the overall state of health and cancer control in each country and additional specific issues for consideration: for China, access to care, contamination of the environment, and cancer fatalism and traditional medicine; for India, affordability of care, provision of adequate health personnel, and sociocultural barriers to cancer control; and for Russia, monitoring of the burden of cancer, societal attitudes towards cancer prevention, effects of inequitable treatment and access to medicine, and a need for improved international engagement.

/pdf/challenges-to-effective-cancer-control-in-china-india-and-2ymujc95yg.pdf

Challenges to effective cancer control in China, India, and Russia

Non-communicable diseases, including cancer, are overtaking infectious disease as the leading health-care threat in middle-income and low-income countries. Latin American and Caribbean countries are struggling to respond to increasing morbidity and death from advanced disease. Health ministries and health-care systems in these countries face many challenges caring for patients with advanced cancer: inadequate funding; inequitable distribution of resources and services; inadequate numbers, training, and distribution of health-care personnel and equipment; lack of adequate care for many populations based on socioeconomic, geographic, ethnic, and other factors; and current systems geared toward the needs of wealthy, urban minorities at a cost to the entire population. This burgeoning cancer problem threatens to cause widespread suffering and economic peril to the countries of Latin America. Prompt and deliberate actions must be taken to avoid this scenario. Increasing efforts towards prevention of cancer and avoidance of advanced, stage IV disease will reduce suffering and mortality and will make overall cancer care more affordable. We hope the findings of our Commission and our recommendations will inspire Latin American stakeholders to redouble their efforts to address this increasing cancer burden and to prevent it from worsening and threatening their societies.

/pdf/planning-cancer-control-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean-yp9ktoas8l.pdf

Carlos Ferreira Gil

Papers

Planning cancer control in Latin America and the Caribbean