Global variation in cancer incidence and mortality

Estimates of the global burden of new cases of cancer have been published for four time periods (1975, 1980, 1985, 1990) and have been presented for all sites combined and for the ten most common sites in men and women, along with possible risk factors and their control. Overall, an estimated 8.1 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed worldwide in 1990 and the number went up to 10.1 million cases by 2000. Even if the incidence rates were to remain unchanged, a large increase in absolute number of cases is a certainty because of the increase in population size and its ageing and poses a veritable time-bomb in public health terms, particularly for the developing countries. Prevention therefore can be considered to be one of the most important cancer-control strategies.