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The Independent
23-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Alcohol-related cancer deaths have doubled in recent years in the US
The number of annual alcohol deaths due to cancer has doubled in recent years in the U.S., researchers said this week. The tally rose from 11,896 in 1990 to 23,207 by 2021, according to data that was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2025 conference. 'Alcohol-associated cancer mortality has significantly increased in the U.S. over the past three decades, with a disproportionate burden observed in males and individuals aged 55 and older,' they wrote. They reached these conclusions using data from the Global Burden of Disease database, which provides incidence and mortality estimates for 35 cancer types. They found that the rates increased for all cancers combined and specific cancers across both genders and age groups, with the exception of liver cancer in people aged 55 and up. 'In 2021, for [the 55-plus age group], liver cancer had the highest alcohol-associated proportional [mortality rate] in males (38.5 percent), followed by nasopharyngeal cancer (31.8 percent), while in females, nasopharyngeal (18.9 percent) and oro/hypopharyngeal cancers (18.4 percent) ranked highest. In 20-54 age, lip-oral cavity cancer had the highest alcohol-associated proportional [rates] for both genders,' they noted. The researchers identified Washington, D.C., as the area with the highest rates of alcohol-associated cancer. Utah had the lowest. An increasing number of women have become heavy drinkers, although alcohol abuse still kills more men than women. While drinking rates dropped from the 1970s through the 1990s, they also rose during the Covid pandemic. So did alcohol-related deaths. 'This is death as opposed to getting a disease. We can treat a lot of cancers, and we're getting better at that, but this is really driving home the point that people are dying from cancer due to alcohol,' said Jane Figueiredo, a professor of medicine at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, who was not involved with the research told NBC News. The research, which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, comes after former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a call for cancer risk warnings to be included on alcoholic beverages. "Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States - greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S. - yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk," he said in a news release earlier in the year. The researchers cited this warning in their report, noting that alcohol consumption is known to be a significant risk factor for cancer. The International Agency on Cancer Research, a branch of the World Health Organization, classified alcohol as a carcinogen in 1987, and the organization says there's no safe amount of alcohol consumption. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had previously said that approximately 20,000 adults in the U.S. die from alcohol-associated cancers each year. The agency noted that most of the deaths may have been avoided if all adults had followed the recommended limits on alcohol use. The authors of the recent research said their findings indicate the need for enhanced prevention. 'Our findings highlight the critical need for targeted prevention efforts, public health policies, and increased awareness to address the rising impact of alcohol consumption on cancer-related mortality across different demographic groups and regions,' they said.
CBS News
22-05-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Deaths from alcohol-related cancers doubled from 1990 to 2021, study finds
New research is showing just how much alcohol has impacted cancer mortality rates in the past three decades. In the analysis, released Thursday ahead of being presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2025 conference in Chicago, researchers found alcohol-associated cancer deaths in the United States doubled from 1990 to 2021, rising from 11,896 to 23,207. The authors also found mortality rates were significantly higher in males and those above age 55. On a state level, the analysis found Washington, D.C., had the highest alcohol-related mortality rate across both sexes, while Utah had the lowest. The analysis used data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) database, which provides incidence and mortality estimates for 35 cancer types. The GBD also highlights dozens of attributable risk factors, including alcohol use, allowing the authors to extract the total alcohol-associated cancer deaths for analysis. "Despite growing awareness of alcohol as a risk factor for cancer development, alcohol continues to contribute significantly to cancer mortality," the authors wrote. "Our findings highlight the critical need for targeted prevention efforts and increased awareness to address the rising impact of alcohol consumption on cancer-related mortality," Alcohol consumption has long been a known risk factor for cancer. In a September report, the American Association for Cancer Research found excessive levels of alcohol consumption can increase the risk for six different types of cancer, including breast, colorectal, liver, stomach, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and certain types of head and neck cancers. Earlier this year, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called for cancer risk warnings to be included on alcoholic beverages. "Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States - greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S. - yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk," Murthy said in a news release at the time. Alcohol was already classified as a Group 1 carcinogen, a substance or exposure known to cause cancer in humans, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer due to sufficient evidence linking it to liver, breast, colorectal, esophagus, larynx, mouth, and throat cancers. Social ties to alcohol can make quitting difficult, but experts say limiting consumption has benefits beyond limiting cancer risk. "All organs can be affected by alcohol intake depending on dose and frequency," Dr. Angela Tatiana Alistar, medical director of GI Medical Oncology at Morristown Medical Center, Atlantic Health System, previously told CBS News. "There is vast scientific literature regarding the impact of alcohol consumption on the liver described as hepatitis (in the acute form), liver cirrhosis (chronic form) and possible liver cancer." Drinking alcohol can also affect organs like the brain, disrupting the sleep-wake cycle. "It can also affect cognition, coordination and emotional regulation," Alistar said. "Acute and chronic dependence and tolerance to alcohol is a high-risk factor for social functioning and mental health." Reducing alcohol isn't the only way to decrease your risk of cancer, either. There are several other modifiable risk factors that researchers found are linked to more than 40% of all cancer fatalities, including smoking, excess body weight, physical inactivity and diet.
Medscape
21-05-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Skin Cancer Burden Highest in Older Men, Rich Countries
In 2021, skin cancer affected millions of older adults globally. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) had the highest incidence, while squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) accounted for the greatest disability burden, and men and high sociodemographic index (SDI) countries, especially in Australasia and North America, bore a disproportionate share of cases and deaths. METHODOLOGY: Researchers analyzed data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 database covering 204 countries from 1990 to 2021. The analysis included age-standardized rates (ASRs) of prevalence, incidence, deaths, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per 100,000 population associated with skin cancer among adults aged 65 years or older. Disease burden was stratified by sex, age, year, and SDI. TAKEAWAY: In 2021, there were an estimated 153,993 new cases of melanoma, 1,463,424 of SCC, and 2,802,354 of BCC. BCC had the highest incidence rate (ASRs, 371.97), whereas SCC exhibited the highest prevalence (ASR, 236.91) and DALYs (ASR, 95.50). Men had a higher incidence than women, and population growth was the major driver of the increasing disease burden. The highest ASRs of melanoma incidence (158.10), prevalence (1165.26), deaths (27.83), and DALYs (502.22) were reported in Australasia. North America had the highest incidence and prevalence rates for keratinocyte carcinoma (KC). Australasia also recorded the highest SCC-related deaths (ASR, 15.37) and DALYs (ASR, 226.92). The highest BCC-related DALY rate (ASR, 1.21) was observed in North America. Melanoma-related death rates were more than five times higher in high SDI countries (ASR, 9.49) than in low-middle to middle SDI countries. Despite high SDI levels, the United States, Greenland, Sweden, and Switzerland had disproportionately high BCC-related DALY rates, while New Zealand, Australia, Norway, North Macedonia, and Slovenia had higher-than-expected melanoma-related DALY rates. IN PRACTICE: 'The findings of this study suggest that the global disease burden of skin cancer in adults 65 years or older is on the rise, particularly among male individuals and in countries with a high SDI level,' the study authors wrote. 'Our results underscore the urgency to enact prevention and treatment strategies tailored to high-risk older populations.' SOURCE: This study was led by Ruiyao Wang, MD, Department of Dermatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University in Chongqing, China, and was published online on May 21 in JAMA Dermatology . LIMITATIONS: Limitations included underreporting of KC in major cancer registries, reliance on modeled estimates for countries with limited data, and the absence of race and ethnicity data. DISCLOSURES: This study received support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Chongqing Science and Technology Commission. The authors did not report any conflicts of interest.
South China Morning Post
16-05-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
China has world's fastest rise in dementia with up to 115 million cases forecast by 2050
In 1990 the country had about 4 million patients with dementia , a number that rose to 17 million by 2021 and is projected to reach 115 million by 2050, according to the research published in PLOS One earlier this month. The study did not highlight a specific reason for this increase, but the country is already grappling with a range of challenges caused by its rapidly ageing population a nd this trend threatens to compound the problem 'Alzheimer's and other dementias (ADD) are one of the diseases with the heaviest global disease burden. The disease burden of ADD in China and globally has increased year by year from 1990 to 2021,' said co-authors Siyu Liu and Geng Daoying, from Fudan University. Geng's research team used data from the Global Burden of Disease database – a free resource backed by international bodies such as the World Health Organization – to collect and analyse the incidence and potential risk factors of dementia in individuals aged 40 and over from 204 countries and regions. They found that the incidence, prevalence and mortality rates of dementia cases had doubled globally between 1990 and 2021, but over the same period the number of cases rose threefold in China.
