New research out of China has found that cancers may be responsible for the deaths of some 2.8 million people in the country that accounts for one-fifth of the global population, which amounts to over 7,500 cancer induced deaths each day.
The research, which was published in the U.S. medical journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, places estimates for new cancer cases in the country at 12,000 new cases per day.
According to the study’s authors, “cancer is the leading cause” of death in the country and it’s “a major public health problem,” China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Chen Wanqing, told China National Radio that while air pollution is nothing short of an important cause of lung cancer deaths — which is one of the most common cancers in the country — it’ll take another 10 to 20 years of analysis for researchers to make an accurate correlation between air pollution and cancer deaths in the country.
Dr. Wanqing is the director of the National Cancer Center in Beijing.
Researchers behind the study noted the toll bad habits such as smoking–which an unrelated study linked to 12 different types of cancer–have taken on the country’s inhabitants, which numbered well over a billion in 2013.
Data analyzed by the team of researchers shows that 27 percent of cancer deaths around the world took place in China and that the four most common cancers diagnosed in the country were lung, esophageal, liver and stomach. Between the four, they represent 57 percent of the cancer cases diagnosed in the country.
In contrast, the four aforementioned cancers only account for 18 percent in the United States, Medical Daily reported.
While the study’s findings might prove troubling to some, there is an upside. Since 2006, cancer mortality rates have dropped some 21 percent for both men as well as women.
Still, Chen insists the nation should make adequate preparations for a rise in the number of cancer deaths, as the country’s aging population comes into play.
