Cancer cases on the rise, but death rate is falling

A new research has found that prostate and breast cancer cases have been increased in past years, but cancer death rates are declining in many countries.

The research conducted by Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation analysed 28 cancer groups in 188 countries and observed that because of prevention and treatment, progress has been made in fighting certain cancers, such as childhood leukemia and death rates for all cancers fell in 126 out of 188 countries.

The research showed that leading cause of cancer incidence for men was prostate cancer that has increased more than threefold between 1990 and 2013 and has resulted in 293,000 deaths.

On the other hand, breast cancer is a major type among women and the number of new breast cancer cases has doubled during this period.

Dr. Christina Fitzmaurice, lead author of the study, mentioned that cancer remains a major threat to people's health around the world, as cancer prevention, screening, and treatment programs are costly, and it is very important for countries to know which cancers cause the highest disease burden in order to allocate scarce resources appropriately.

Fitzmaurice added that with the help of better screening and treatment people can fight against cervical cancer.

The research is published in JAMA Oncology.