China has 20% of world's recent cancer diagnoses

Recently-diagnosed cancer patients in China represent about 20 percent of the recently-diagnosed worldwide, according to details revealed at the just-concluded 22nd Asia Pacific Cancer Conference in Tianjin, a port city of North China.

Experts said at the conference that eight kinds of cancer, namely lung cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer, have led to 80 percent of the deaths caused by cancer in China, the Yangtze Evening Post reported Sunday.

Hao Xishan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a distinguished oncologist, said at the conference that the recently-diagnosed cancer patients in the Asia-Pacific region occupied 45 percent of the global total, and the deaths caused by cancer in the region represent about 50 percent of the total worldwide.

Lung cancer remains the most common cancer facing Asian countries. Lung cancer, stomach cancer and liver cancer are the major three types in the Asia-Pacific region.

Unhealthy lifestyles, increasing populations and aging demographics are major factors, Hao said.

According to Hao, in developing countries, there are common factors that cause cancer, such as smoking, diet, obesity and lack of exercise, as well as a shortage of vaccines caused by poor economic situations.

Hao added that 43 percent of Chinese people believe that "cancer means death," according to a survey from the Union for International Cancer Control which polled people in 42 countries, and the figure is only 13 percent in the Western countries.

He also said that the results of the poll show that the awareness of cancer among the Chinese public should be improved.

The three-day biannual conference held in Tianjin, which came to an end on Saturday, aimed to map out long-term strategies on cancer control, lower the incidence rate of cancers in the region and boost research into the prevention and diagnosis of cancers.