• Society

Liver, Lung, Breast, Top 3 Cancers in Cambodia

• By Torn Chanritheara
• February 5, 2024 5:10 PM

PHNOM PENH – Liver, lung, and breast cancers were the top three most frequent cancers among Cambodians in 2022, said the World Health Organization (WHO) in its latest report on global cancers.

WHO’s cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), released the report ahead of World Cancer Day on Feb. 4 showing that a majority of countries do not adequately finance priority cancer and palliative care services, as part of universal health coverage.

In Cambodia, the report recorded 13,799 deaths from cancer in 2022 of which 7,150 were male and 6,649 were female. A total of 19,795 new cases of cancer were recorded that year, with the five-year prevalent cases being 40,634.

Liver, lung, and breast cancer were the most frequent cancers among both sexes in the country in 2022, it said. There were 3,497 cases of liver cancer, 2,161 lung cancer, and 2,116 breast cancer. In fourth place was colorectum cancer with 1,726 cases, followed by cervix uteri (1,274 cases).

For men, liver cancers were the most common (2,394 cases), followed by lung (1,374 cases) and colorectum (812 cases) cancers. Leukemia came fourth with 356 cases and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma cancers were the fifth most common with 330 cases.

For women, breast cancers were the most frequent (2,116 cases), followed by cervix uteri (1,274 cases), liver (1,103 cases), colorectum (914 cases) and lung (787 cases) cancers.

Liver cancer was also the leading factor in death cases. The cancer claimed 3,290 lives in 2022. A total of 1,913 people died of lung cancer and 917 of breast cancer.

According to the report, lung cancer was the most commonly occurring cancer worldwide with 2.5 million new cases accounting for 12.4 percent of the total new cases. Female breast cancer ranked second with 2.3 million cases, equal to 11.6 percent of total cases. 

The third place was colorectal cancer with 1.9 million cases or 9.6 percent. The fourth place, prostate cancer, saw 1.5 million new cases or 7.3 percent, and the fifth was stomach cancer with 970,000 cases or 4.9 percent.

Moreover, lung cancer was also the leading cause of cancer death accounting for 1.8 million deaths or 18.7 percent of the total cancer deaths, followed by colorectal cancer with 900,000 deaths or 9.3 percent, liver cancer with 760,000 deaths or 7.8 percent, breast cancer with 670,000 deaths or 6.9 percent and stomach cancer with 660,000 deaths or 6.8 percent. 

Lung cancer’s re-emergence as the most common cancer is likely related to persistent tobacco use in Asia, the report said.