What is the cause of the increasing cancer cases?

The second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, reported that the cancer rate has continued to increase since 1990. Tobacco use, Alcohol consumption, Unhealthy diet, Physical inactivity and Air pollution all can be the causes of it. According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Cancer is the second-largest cause of death in the United States. According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer is caused by changes in genes that control how our cells function, especially how they grow and divide.

IMG Credit: Cancer Research UK

Getting older is also one of the biggest risk factors for cancer. More than three-quarters of people diagnosed with cancer in the UK are said to be over 60. An increase in the aging population and known cancer risk factors can contribute to an overall increase in cancer incidence. Certain lifestyles also increase the risk of cancer. Smoking, drinking, overexposure to the sun or frequent blistering sunburns, and obesity can all cause cancer.

IMG Credit: National Cancer Center Singapore

Hereditary cancer is very rare. Most cancer cases occur when there is no significant family history and are not inherited. If cancer is common in your family, it is possible that mutations are being transmitted from one generation to the next. This type of cancer is considered "intermittent", not genetic, because acquired genetic mutations cannot be transmitted from one generation to the next.

IMG Credit: AACR Cancer Progress Report 2020

Although the death rate from cancer is decreasing, the number of cancer cases is expected to continue to increase by nearly 50 percent by 2050. By 2019, numbers had risen rapidly, with 23.6 million people diagnosed with new cancer and 10 million cancer deaths.

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Works Cited

• “Cancer.” World Health Organization (WHO), 3 February 2022, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer. Accessed 10 January 2023.

• “Chronic Disease Fact Sheet: Cancer.” CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/factsheets/cancer.htm. Accessed 10 January 2023.

• Jones, Greg. “Science blog.” Cancer news, 4 February 2015, https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/02/04/why-are-cancer-rates-increasing/. Accessed 10 January 2023.

• “What Is Cancer? - NCI.” National Cancer Institute, 11 October 2021, https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer. Accessed 10 January 2023.

• “What Is Hereditary Cancer? | Medical Genetics.” UConn Health, https://health.uconn.edu/medical-genetics/hereditary-cancer-program/what-is-hereditary-cancer/. Accessed 10 January 2023.