Cancer in China kills more than 7,500 people a day, new figures show

More than 7,500 people a day died from cancer in China in 2015, new figures show, and some 12,000 more were diagnosed with the disease each day.

Although mortality rates have decreased significantly since 2006, that’s still a 73.8 per cent increase in the number of cancer deaths over a decade, mainly due to ageing and the growth of the population, say researchers led by Dr Chen Wanqing of the National Cancer Centre in Beijing.

Overall, there were an estimated 4.3 million new cancer cases and more than 2.8 million cancer deaths in China in 2015, with lung cancer the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death, according to the report published online on Tuesday in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

With the number of cancer cases and deaths rising, the disease is the leading cause of death in China.

Yet the researchers say many of the cancer deaths and diagnoses could be prevented by reducing people’s exposure to known causes of the disease and increasing the effectiveness of medical treatment, particularly for those living in rural areas and in disadvantaged populations.

The largest contributor to avoidable cancer deaths in China is chronic infection, which is estimated to account for 29 per cent of cancer deaths, predominantly from stomach cancer (caused by H. pylori bacteria), liver cancer (from hepatitis B and C viruses), and cervical cancer (caused by human papillomavirus or HPV).

Tobacco smoking accounted for about one-quarter of all cancer deaths in China; yet in 2010 more than half the men in China smoked, and smoking rates in adolescents and young adults are still rising.

Outdoor air pollution, considered to be among the worst in the world, indoor air pollution through heating and cooking using coal and other biomass fuels, and the contamination of soil and drinking water mean that the Chinese population is exposed to many environmental carcinogens.