Editing Cancer (section)

== Epidemiology ==
{{Main|Epidemiology of cancer}}
{{See also|List of countries by cancer rate}}
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|caption=Age-standardized death rate from cancer per 10,000 people.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cancer death rates |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cancer-death-rates |website=Our World in Data |access-date=4 October 2019}}</ref>
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Estimates are that in 2018, 18.1&nbsp;million new cases of cancer and 9.6&nbsp;million deaths occur globally.<ref name=IARC2018/> About 20% of males and 17% of females will get cancer at some point in time while 13% of males and 9% of females will die from it.<ref name=IARC2018>{{cite web |title=Latest global cancer data: Cancer burden rises to 18.1 million new cases and 9.6 million cancer deaths in 2018 |url=https://www.iarc.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/pr263_E.pdf |website=iarc.fr |access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref>

In 2008, approximately 12.7&nbsp;million cancers were [[diagnosis|diagnosed]] (excluding [[non-melanoma skin cancer]]s and other non-invasive cancers)<ref name=Epi11/> and in 2010 nearly 7.98&nbsp;million people died.<ref name=Loz2012>{{cite journal |vauthors=Lozano R, Naghavi M, Foreman K, Lim S, Shibuya K, Aboyans V, Abraham J, Adair T, Aggarwal R, Ahn SY, Alvarado M, Anderson HR, Anderson LM, Andrews KG, Atkinson C, Baddour LM, Barker-Collo S, Bartels DH, Bell ML, Benjamin EJ, Bennett D, Bhalla K, Bikbov B, Bin Abdulhak A, Birbeck G, Blyth F, Bolliger I, Boufous S, Bucello C, Burch M, Burney P, Carapetis J, Chen H, Chou D, Chugh SS, Coffeng LE, Colan SD, Colquhoun S, Colson KE, Condon J, Connor MD, Cooper LT, Corriere M, Cortinovis M, de Vaccaro KC, Couser W, Cowie BC, Criqui MH, Cross M, Dabhadkar KC, Dahodwala N, De Leo D, Degenhardt L, Delossantos A, Denenberg J, Des Jarlais DC, Dharmaratne SD, Dorsey ER, Driscoll T, Duber H, Ebel B, Erwin PJ, Espindola P, Ezzati M, Feigin V, Flaxman AD, Forouzanfar MH, Fowkes FG, Franklin R, Fransen M, Freeman MK, Gabriel SE, Gakidou E, Gaspari F, Gillum RF, Gonzalez-Medina D, Halasa YA, Haring D, Harrison JE, Havmoeller R, Hay RJ, Hoen B, Hotez PJ, Hoy D, Jacobsen KH, James SL, Jasrasaria R, Jayaraman S, Johns N, Karthikeyan G, Kassebaum N, Keren A, Khoo JP, Knowlton LM, Kobusingye O, Koranteng A, Krishnamurthi R, Lipnick M, Lipshultz SE, Ohno SL, Mabweijano J, MacIntyre MF, Mallinger L, March L, Marks GB, Marks R, Matsumori A, Matzopoulos R, Mayosi BM, McAnulty JH, McDermott MM, McGrath J, Mensah GA, Merriman TR, Michaud C, Miller M, Miller TR, Mock C, Mocumbi AO, Mokdad AA, Moran A, Mulholland K, Nair MN, Naldi L, Narayan KM, Nasseri K, Norman P, O'Donnell M, Omer SB, Ortblad K, Osborne R, Ozgediz D, Pahari B, Pandian JD, Rivero AP, Padilla RP, Perez-Ruiz F, Perico N, Phillips D, Pierce K, Pope CA, Porrini E, Pourmalek F, Raju M, Ranganathan D, Rehm JT, Rein DB, Remuzzi G, Rivara FP, Roberts T, De León FR, Rosenfeld LC, Rushton L, Sacco RL, Salomon JA, Sampson U, Sanman E, Schwebel DC, Segui-Gomez M, Shepard DS, Singh D, Singleton J, Sliwa K, Smith E, Steer A, Taylor JA, Thomas B, Tleyjeh IM, Towbin JA, Truelsen T, Undurraga EA, Venketasubramanian N, Vijayakumar L, Vos T, Wagner GR, Wang M, Wang W, Watt K, Weinstock MA, Weintraub R, Wilkinson JD, Woolf AD, Wulf S, Yeh PH, Yip P, Zabetian A, Zheng ZJ, Lopez AD, Murray CJ, AlMazroa MA, Memish ZA | s2cid = 1541253 |title=Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 |journal=Lancet |volume=380 |issue=9859 |pages=2095–128 |date=December 2012 |pmid=23245604 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61728-0 | pmc = 10790329 |hdl=10536/DRO/DU:30050819| url = https://zenodo.org/record/2557786 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Cancers account for approximately 16% of deaths. The most common {{as of|2018|lc=yes}} are lung cancer (1.76&nbsp;million deaths), [[colorectal cancer]] (860,000) [[stomach cancer]] (780,000), [[liver cancer]] (780,000), and breast cancer (620,000).<ref name=WHO2018/> This makes invasive cancer the leading cause of death in the [[developed country|developed world]] and the second leading in the [[developing country|developing world]].<ref name=Epi11/> Over half of these cases occur in the developing world.<ref name=Epi11/>

Deaths from cancer were 5.8&nbsp;million in 1990.<ref name=Loz2012/> Deaths have been increasing primarily due to longer lifespans and lifestyle changes in the developing world.<ref name=Epi11/> The most significant [[Risk factor (epidemiology)|risk factor]] for developing cancer is age.<ref name=Coleman>{{cite book | vauthors = Coleman WB, Rubinas TC | veditors = Tsongalis GJ, Coleman WL | title = Molecular Pathology: The Molecular Basis of Human Disease | publisher = Elsevier Academic Press | location = Amsterdam | year = 2009 | page = 66 | chapter = 4 | chapter-url = {{google books |plainurl=y |id=7MaclAEA}} | isbn = 978-0-12-374419-7 }}{{dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Although it is possible for cancer to strike at any age, most patients with invasive cancer are over 65.<ref name=Coleman/> According to cancer researcher [[Robert Weinberg (biologist)|Robert A. Weinberg]], "If we lived long enough, sooner or later we all would get cancer."<ref name=Weinberg>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/health/28cancer.html |title=Unearthing Prehistoric Tumors, and Debate |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=28 December 2010 | vauthors = Johnson G |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624233156/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/health/28cancer.html |archive-date=24 June 2017}}</ref> Some of the association between aging and cancer is attributed to [[immunosenescence]],<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Pawelec G, Derhovanessian E, Larbi A | title = Immunosenescence and cancer | journal = Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology | volume = 75 | issue = 2 | pages = 165–72 | date = August 2010 | pmid = 20656212 | doi = 10.1016/j.critrevonc.2010.06.012 }}</ref> errors accumulated in [[DNA]] over a lifetime<ref>{{cite book |vauthors=Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J |title=Molecular biology of the cell |publisher=Garland Science |location=New York |year=2002 |edition=4th |chapter=The Preventable Causes of Cancer |isbn=978-0-8153-4072-0 |chapter-url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26897/ |quote=A certain irreducible background incidence of cancer is to be expected regardless of circumstances: mutations can never be absolutely avoided, because they are an inescapable consequence of fundamental limitations on the accuracy of DNA replication, as discussed in Chapter 5. If a human could live long enough, it is inevitable that at least one of his or her cells would eventually accumulate a set of mutations sufficient for cancer to develop. | display-authors = etal |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102193148/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26897/ |archive-date=2 January 2016}}</ref> and age-related changes in the [[endocrine system]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Anisimov VN, Sikora E, Pawelec G | s2cid = 17412298 | title = Relationships between cancer and aging: a multilevel approach | journal = Biogerontology | volume = 10 | issue = 4 | pages = 323–38 | date = August 2009 | pmid = 19156531 | doi = 10.1007/s10522-008-9209-8 }}</ref> Aging's effect on cancer is complicated by factors such as DNA damage and inflammation promoting it and factors such as vascular aging and endocrine changes inhibiting it.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = de Magalhães JP | s2cid = 5726826 | title = How ageing processes influence cancer | journal = Nature Reviews. Cancer | volume = 13 | issue = 5 | pages = 357–65 | date = May 2013 | pmid = 23612461 | doi = 10.1038/nrc3497 }}</ref>

Some slow-growing cancers are particularly common, but often are not fatal. [[Autopsy]] studies in Europe and Asia showed that up to 36% of people have undiagnosed and apparently harmless [[thyroid cancer]] at the time of their deaths and that 80% of men develop [[prostate cancer]] by age 80.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = David S, Fraumeni JF |title=Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=qfN8Y1_lbDYC |page=977}}|date=24 August 2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-974797-9|page=977}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Bostwick DG, Eble JN |title=Urological Surgical Pathology |publisher=Mosby |location=St. Louis |year=2007 |page=468 |isbn=978-0-323-01970-5 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=z7AA-DS0VegC |page=335}}}}</ref> As these cancers do not cause the patient's death, identifying them would have represented [[overdiagnosis]] rather than useful medical care.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

The three most common [[childhood cancer]]s are [[leukemia]] (34%), [[brain tumor]]s (23%) and [[lymphoma]]s (12%).<ref name=Euro10>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kaatsch P | title = Epidemiology of childhood cancer | journal = Cancer Treatment Reviews | volume = 36 | issue = 4 | pages = 277–285 | date = June 2010 | pmid = 20231056 | doi = 10.1016/j.ctrv.2010.02.003 }}</ref> In the United States cancer affects about 1 in 285 children.<ref name=Eli2014>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ward E, DeSantis C, Robbins A, Kohler B, Jemal A | title = Childhood and adolescent cancer statistics, 2014 | journal = CA | volume = 64 | issue = 2 | pages = 83–103 | date = January 2014 | pmid = 24488779 | doi = 10.3322/caac.21219 | s2cid = 34364885 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Rates of childhood cancer increased by 0.6% per year between 1975 and 2002 in the United States<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ward EM, Thun MJ, Hannan LM, Jemal A | title = Interpreting cancer trends | journal = Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences | volume = 1076 | issue = 1 | pages = 29–53 | date = September 2006 | pmid = 17119192 | doi = 10.1196/annals.1371.048 | s2cid = 1579801 | bibcode = 2006NYASA1076...29W }}</ref> and by 1.1% per year between 1978 and 1997 in Europe.<ref name=Euro10/> Death from childhood cancer decreased by half between 1975 and 2010 in the United States.<ref name=Eli2014/>