A better vaccination coverage against hepatitis B and policies aimed at obesity and alcohol consumption are needed to reduce the number of liver cancers that, due to lack of public action, could have almost doubled throughout the world in 2050, said an international study published on Tuesday, July 29.
This work carried out by an expert commission from six countries (China, United States, South Korea, Italy, Spain and France, where Inserm has collaborated in particular), and published in the medical magazine The Lancet, underlines “the urgency of a global action” against this disease, after having projected the studies and data available.
Liver cancer is the most common sixth cancer and the most fatal third. According to the World Cancer Observatory, on the planet in 2050, the number of new cases will rise to 1.52 million per year, almost doubly, while 1.37 million people will die.
Eight out of ten of these cancers are hepatocellular carcinomas, a form particularly present in East Asia, North Africa and Southeast Asia. Worldwide, the patient’s survival rate in five was 5% to 30% between 2000 and 2014.
However, three out of five liver cancers are due to avoidable risk factors on which they must act according to researchers: viral hepatitis, alcohol consumption and non -alcoholic liver steatosis (characterized by an accumulation of fat in the liver often associated with obesity).
Strong disparities
Hepatitis B and C viruses must continue to be the main causes of liver cancer in 2050, while the decrease in participation (36.9% of cases against 39% for the first, 25.9% against 29.1% for the second).
Although hepatitis B vaccination is the most effective means of prevention, “coverage remains low in Africa and in low -income regions” due to its “cost, reluctant to vaccinate and ignorance of its effectiveness” and the lack of obligation of vaccination, says the study.
“In 2015, the vaccination of newborns and babies allowed to prevent 210 million new chronic infections from hepatitis B and should reduce the estimated number of deaths to 1.1 million by 2030,” reporters report.
If this vaccination is not reinforced, “17 million deaths related to hepatitis B should occur between 2015 and 2030,” they say.
The participation of liver cancers due to alcohol consumption and steatosis should increase: the accumulation of fat in the liver will be involved in 11% of cases in 2050 (compared to 8% in 2022), an increase of 35% and alcohol, 21.1% of cases in this horizon, according to their calculations.
Consequently, the authors of the study call the awareness of opinion, medical circles and governments with the growing risk of steatosis, “especially in the United States, Europe and Asia”, insisting on “high -risk groups: diabetic and obese people.”
“Improving patient survival should be an important research axis,” says the study that requires “coordination efforts” between industry, caregivers and international organizations to reduce strong disparities in disease care, very insufficient in low and intermediate income countries.
Source: BFM TV
