Cancer's global epidemiological transition and growth

As socioeconomic status and access to health care improve, the disease burden of a population tends to undergo an epidemiological transition: populations appear to transition from contracting primarily communicable diseases to developing primarily non-communicable diseases. 1 Omran AR The epidemiologic transition: a theory of the epidemiology of population change: the epidemiologic transition. Milbank Q. 2005; 83: 731-757 Crossref PubMed Scopus (418) Google Scholar Concomitant changes in lifestyle, dietary, and environmental exposures and increased access to health care can similarly shift the distribution of non-communicable diseases, such as increases in lifestyle-related cancers. 2 Bray F Jemal A Grey N Ferlay J Forman D Global cancer transitions according to the Human Development Index (2008–2030): a population-based study. Lancet Oncol. 2012; 13: 790-801 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1260) Google Scholar Identifying and quantifying these shifts in disease burden is crucial to ensure that resource allocation and health-care use are appropriate as local and global demographics change. Variations in common diseases, hospital admissions, and deaths in middle-aged adults in 21 countries from five continents (PURE): a prospective cohort studyAmong adults aged 35–70 years, cardiovascular disease is the major cause of mortality globally. However, in HICs and some upper-MICs, deaths from cancer are now more common than those from cardiovascular disease, indicating a transition in the predominant causes of deaths in middle-age. As cardiovascular disease decreases in many countries, mortality from cancer will probably become the leading cause of death. The high mortality in poorer countries is not related to risk factors, but it might be related to poorer access to health care. Full-Text PDF