Washington: Many low-and middle-income countries have seen cancer rates rise, partially due to increases in risk factors that are typical of Western countries, a new study has found, according to PTI. Improved screening and detection efforts, combined with decreases in risk factors like smoking, have reduced the incidence and mortality rates from several common types of cancer in many high-income countries, the researchers found. “This study gives us important clues about the epidemiology of cancer and gives us some ideas about what we could further investigate to improve global public health,” said one of the researchers Lindsey Torre from the American Cancer Society. The increase in many low-and middle-income countries is partially due to increases in risk factors that are typical of Western countries, researchers said. Worldwide, an estimated 14.1 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million cancer deaths occurred in 2012, they said.
Researchers analysed data for the years 2003-2007 from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) CancerMondial database and mortality data through 2012 from the WHO Cancer Mortality database.
