The World Cancer Congress 2024the biennial conference of the Union for International Cancer Controlbrought together doctors, scientists and researchers, as well as current or former cancer patients, to discuss new evidence and strategies on how to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease.
Held in Geneva, Switzerland, the event was attended by more than 2,000 participants from approximately 120 countries, and featured more than 150 sessions. Here are the key takeaways.
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The British government wants to create a smoke-free society. Among his upcoming tobacco and vapes accountwould make the sale of tobacco to people born on or after January 2009 illegal. There will also be stronger regulation of vapes. But a study in Germany shows just how difficult it will be to make vaping less attractive to children.
In the EU, advertising for tobacco products and e-cigarettes is prohibited on TV, radio, print, online and social media. Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center analyzed social media posts in German on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Pinterest that mentioned vapes and heated tobacco products over an eight-month period in 2023. Key findings presented at the conference revealed that despite the ban on online advertising, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products were systematically marketed to young people on social media.
One third of social media posts advertising heated tobacco products were specifically aimed at young people, with vapes and heated tobacco products often portrayed as stylish and trendy accessories, with lots of bright colors and flavors to choose from.
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2. Ovarian cancer costs the UK economy more than £5 billion a year
More than 300,000 women worldwide, ovarian cancer is diagnosed every year, with approximately 70% in the most advanced stages. The first multi-country study of the socioeconomic impact of ovarian cancer compared 11 countries. The researchers calculated that ovarian cancer costs $70 billion a year in those countries alone, through lost work, sick days, informal care and loss of life, as well as the cost of treatment. The UK had proportionally the highest socio-economic burden of the 11 countries surveyed, with costs of £5.4bn or 0.24% of GDP.
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3. Unequal breast cancer treatment for patients with mental illness
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide, with more than 2 million people diagnosed each year. Diagnosis and treatment are affected by health inequalities. Initial findings from a study by British academics presented to MPs showed that people with mental illness are less likely to receive the same level of treatment as those without.
Researchers examined the likelihood of patients with stage 1, 2, and 3 breast cancer receiving different types of surgery and found that those with mental disorders were significantly less likely to receive breast-conserving surgery than those without a history of mental illness. Those who were hospitalized or had to attend emergency departments were the least likely to receive breast-conserving surgery. This may help explain lower survival rates for patients with a history of mental illness, the authors concluded.
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4. More than 1.4 million children worldwide lost their father to cancer in 2020
Children who have lost one or both parents often face lifelong health, economic and social disadvantages. Figures presented to Congress by the International Agency for Research on Cancer calculated the extent of those losses for the first time.
It is estimated that 1.41 million children worldwide have lost their fathers to cancer. Almost three-quarters of deaths were among those over 45 and most deaths were from gastrointestinal, liver, lung and trachea cancers, which are strongly associated with commercial determinants of health such as alcohol and smoking.
A separate study by US academics on different types of alcohol warning labels showed the difficulties in communicating the link between drinking and cancer. Although a message of “no safe level” of alcohol consumption and cancer increased awareness of the risks of heavy drinking, it was also the least believed message, compared to “the less you drink, the lower the risk” or “the more you drink, the greater the risk”.
