Are we winning the war on cancer?

Certainly there is no shortage of curses against science, especially when suffering from something. However, while it seems unlikely that a minimally reasonable scientist would advocate any kind of omnipotence, there is something hard to dispute: humans are taking advantage of the war on cancer.

Well, but why do so many people still die of cancer every year? As the Real Clear Science website put it, the issue is equally controversial and complicated. But there are at least three main points to keep in mind when questioning the death triggered by the various forms of cancer today.

Longer life expectancy

Basically, there are more people dying of cancer today because it is easier to live long enough to develop some form of the disease. Citing examples in the US, for example, the site recalls that the average life expectancy of an American in the early twentieth century was only 46.3 years for men and 48.3 years for women. Also at the time, diseases such as diphtheria still appeared among the top 10 causes of death.

However, thanks to advances in medicine - and also the many amenities of contemporary life - the same American in 2010 had a life expectancy of 76.2 years for men and 81.1 years for women. Of course there were seniors in 1900 - but they made up a considerably smaller portion of the population. In fact, as the author recalls, more than half of Americans are now over 80 as early as 2000.

Along with the increase in life expectancy, however, there is an increase in the number of death cases due to cancer variations. This is for a very obvious reason: the other forms of death have become increasingly preventable.

As George Johnson put it in a column to the New York Times: “People 55-84 are more likely to die of cancer than of a heart attack. For those who live beyond this age, things are reversed, and the heart attack is more likely to occur. However, year by year, as more and more troubled hearts are replaced, cancer now covers more and more space. ”

diagnostic medicine

Current medicine has also become increasingly effective in detecting cancer. Due to the leaps of diagnostic medicine, it is possible to become aware of the disease earlier and earlier - often, well before any symptomatic manifestation.

Of course, premature detection does not necessarily mean longer survival - but in most cases the chances can be greatly increased.

Combined Factors

As the author of this article puts it, perhaps the whole of the current scenario represents even unprecedented advances in the battle against cancer. There is even a graphic to make this even clearer. As shown in the figure below, a combination of factors including early detection, preventive methods, and treatment improvements accounted for a rate of 215 deaths per 100, 000 people in the US in 1991.

In 2010, however, that number dropped to 172 deaths per 100, 000 people in the same country. It is therefore more than 1.3 million inhabitants saved since 1991. Perhaps a good reason for optimism - even given the discrepancies between various health care systems around the world, it is true.