Breast cancer deaths to double by '40, says Lancet

BREAST cancer has emerged as the world's most common cancer, with the incidence rate predicted to be more than three million, causing a million deaths per year by 2040, according to the new Lancet Commission report.

- KAVITA BAJELI-DATT

It said that more than three million women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 and it caused 6,85,000 deaths globally.

In 2020, women around the world, on an average, had a lin 12 risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer before turning 75-years-old. Around one per cent of the total incidence occurs in men, researchers said.

The burden is predicted to increase to over three million new diagnoses per year by 2040, an increase of 40% from 2020, with low and middle-income countries (LMIC) being "disproportionately affected".