Chinanews client, Beijing, February 4th (Reporter Zhang Ni) February 4th is World Cancer Day.
According to data from the WHO, one in five people in the world will suffer from cancer in their lifetime.
Domestic data show that 7.5 people in China are diagnosed with cancer every minute.
How much do you know about this "killer" that seriously threatens life and health?
Data map: outpatient building of a hospital.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yin Liqin
10 million deaths from cancer worldwide in 2020
The latest data from the WHO shows that the number of cancer patients diagnosed globally in 2020 will reach 19.3 million, and the number of deaths from cancer will increase to 10 million.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death.
Currently, one in five people in the world will suffer from cancer in their lifetime, and one in eight men and one in eleven women will die of cancer.
Breast cancer is now the most common cancer in the world, accounting for 11.7% of new cancer cases, followed by lung cancer (11.4%), colorectal cancer (10.0%) and prostate cancer (7.3%). Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women cancer.
In addition, cancer is also the leading cause of death in children and adolescents. Approximately 400,000 children are diagnosed with cancer each year.
In China, the incidence of cancer also deserves attention.
According to the national cancer statistics released by the National Cancer Center in 2019, there are about 3.929 million malignant tumors in China each year, about 2.338 million deaths, and 7.5 people are diagnosed with cancer every minute.
The "Report on Nutrition and Chronic Disease Status of Chinese Residents (2020)" released in December 2020 shows that in 2019, Chinese residents were prematurely caused by four types of major chronic diseases, including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. The mortality rate is 16.5%, that is, the probability that each person will die from the four major chronic diseases between the ages of 30 and 70 is 16.5%.
The incidence of cancer among residents is 293.9 per 100,000, which is still on the rise. Lung cancer and breast cancer rank first among men and women respectively.
The top five cancer deaths were lung cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, and colorectal cancer.
Data map Photo courtesy of Cancer Hospital
What causes the increase in cancer incidence?
What factors have caused the increase in the incidence of cancer among Chinese residents?
Regarding this issue, He Jie, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the National Cancer Center, once analyzed that in recent years, as China’s population aging, industrialization, and urbanization have gradually accelerated, coupled with chronic infections, unhealthy lifestyles, environmental exposures and other reasons , The incidence of cancer in China is still on the rise.
In addition, according to him, China's cancer spectrum is in a transitional stage from developing countries to developed countries.
The high incidence of lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer in developed countries is on the rise. The high incidence of gastrointestinal cancers in developing countries, such as esophageal cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer, has declined compared with the 1970s and 1980s, but the overall burden Still relatively serious, the overall situation of cancer prevention and control is still relatively severe.
In terms of cancer survival rate, the 5-year cancer survival rate in China has risen from 30.9% to 40.5% in the past ten years, an increase of nearly 10%, but there is still some gap between the 5-year survival rate in developed countries.
There are two main reasons for these gaps. On the one hand, most of the first few malignant tumors in China have a poor prognosis. On the other hand, the population covered by cancer screening and early diagnosis and treatment in China is relatively small. The awareness of taking the initiative to participate in the anti-cancer physical examination is not strong enough. Most patients are already in the middle and advanced stages when the cancer is discovered, so the treatment effect is relatively poor.
Data picture by Yangbo
Regarding cancer, you need to know this knowledge!
Cancer is a big “killer” that threatens health, so what factors are related to the occurrence of such diseases?
How can it be effectively prevented?
A few days ago, the reporter interviewed Wang Yingyi, deputy chief physician of the Department of Oncology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, on related issues.
——What is the connection between cancer and genes?
At present, nearly 30 types of hereditary cancer syndromes have been discovered, and many studies have shown the correlation between cancer and heredity.
Among the common malignant tumors, colorectal cancer has the highest proportion of genetically related, up to 20-30%.
But sometimes, inherited genes have no obvious relationship with people suffering from cancer, and acquired factors also play an important role in cancer.
——What are the controllable factors that cause cancer?
Earlier, the National Cancer Center analyzed as many as 23 carcinogenic risk factors related to common cancers in China.
These factors are divided into dietary factors (insufficient intake: fruits, vegetables, dietary fiber, calcium; excessive intake: red meat, processed meat products, pickles), behavioral factors (smoking, secondhand smoke, drinking, lack of exercise) , Metabolic factors (overweight, diabetes), environmental factors (PM 2.5 pollution, ultraviolet radiation), infectious factors (Helicobacter pylori (HP), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C and hepatitis C virus (HCV), HIV (HIV), EB virus (EBV), human papilloma virus (HPV), clonorchis sinensis, human herpes virus type 8 (HHV-8)).
Data map photo by Xu Lanqing
—— Cancer has a tendency to "prefer sons to women"
In the face of cancer, men and women are not equal, and cancer has a tendency to "prefer sons to women".
Except for cancers that are unique to men and women (male and female cancers), the incidence and mortality of male cancer are higher than those of females.
The most common cancers in men include lung cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, lymphoma, brain nervous system, and pancreatic cancer.
The high incidence of cancer in women is breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, thyroid cancer, cervical cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, uterine cancer, and ovarian cancer.
——What is a tumor marker?
Tumor markers, tumor markers, and tumor indicators all refer to the same thing.
In fact, both normal human cells and cancer cells produce tumor markers, which are essentially some carbohydrates, lipids, peptides, hormones and other substances, but the production of cancer cells is much higher than other cells.
With the passage of time, people's understanding of tumor markers has become more and more perfect. Some tumor-related genes have also been included in the list of tumor markers.
Data map: People are queuing for registration in the outpatient building of the East Hospital of Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yin Liqin
-Abnormal tumor markers = cancer?
The increase in tumor indicators is usually not caused by cancer, and the most common cause is non-tumor factors such as inflammation or injury.
For example, hepatitis can lead to an increase in AFP associated with liver cancer, CA125 associated with ovarian cancer in healthy women during menstruation or ovulation, and CEA levels in smokers.
The incidence of tumors also confirms this view. The total incidence of all cancers is less than a few thousandths, which is far below the abnormal incidence of tumor indicators. A considerable number of people with abnormal tumors do not have cancer.
In fact, the root of tumor markers is the destruction of cells. Proteins such as tumor markers in the cells enter the blood and are then detected by blood tests.
Therefore, abnormal tumor indicators do not mean suffering from cancer.
In addition, even if some tumors metastasize completely, the tumor index is never high. This may be related to the tumor cells not secreting related proteins or secreting but not entering the blood.
Data map: Artificial intelligence AI system combined with optimized CT scanning technology.
Photo courtesy of Shanghai Chest Hospital
——Are there any "signs" before cancer comes?
In fact, cancer does not appear all at once, it is a slow process.
For example, the development of gastric cancer has a general process: normal gastric mucosa→chronic superficial gastritis→chronic atrophic gastritis→intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia→gastric cancer.
Chronic atrophic gastritis can be diagnosed through gastroscopy and mucosal biopsy. As long as it receives regular treatment in the chronic phase, it usually does not become cancerous.
For another example, more than 95% of colon cancers come from colon adenomas, which generally take 5 to 15 years from polyps to cancer.
At this stage, polypectomy through colonoscopy can greatly reduce the incidence of bowel cancer.
There is a trilogy of liver cancer in China: hepatitis→cirrhosis→liver cancer.
If there is a history of hepatitis B with the basis of liver cirrhosis, it is a high-risk group of liver cancer. If there is a suspicious space-occupying or elevated alpha-fetoprotein on imaging, it may be cancerous.
Therefore, before every cancer occurs, there is actually an early warning, but it depends on whether you take it seriously!
(Finish)