The World Cancer Congress 2024the biennial conference of the Union for International Cancer Controlbrought together physicians, scientists and researchers, as well as current and former cancer patients, to discuss new evidence and strategies on how to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease.
The event was held in Geneva, Switzerland, and was attended by over 2,000 participants from approximately 120 countries. The event featured over 150 sessions. Here are the key takeaways.
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The British government wants to create a smoke-free society. Under the upcoming Tobacco and Vaping Act, the sale of tobacco to people born on or after January 2009 would become illegal. There would also be stricter regulation of vapes. But a study in Germany shows how difficult it will be to make vaping less attractive to children.
In the EU, advertising for tobacco products and e-cigarettes is banned on TV, radio, print, online and social media. Researchers from the German Cancer Research Center analyzed German social media posts on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Pinterest mentioning 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 promoted to young people on social media.
A third of social media posts advertising heated tobacco products were specifically targeted at young people. Vapes and heated tobacco products were often depicted as stylish and trendy accessories, with lots of bright colours and flavours 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 are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year worldwide, with around 70% of cases occurring in the most advanced stages. The first multi-country study to examine the socioeconomic impact of ovarian cancer compared 11 countries. Researchers estimated that ovarian cancer costs the countries alone $70 billion a year, through unemployment, sick days, informal care and loss of life, as well as the cost of treatment. Proportionally, the UK had the highest socioeconomic burden of the 11 countries studied, with costs of £5.4 billion, or 0.24% of GDP.
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3. Unequal treatment of breast cancer patients with mental disorders
Breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer worldwide, with more than 2 million people are diagnosed each year. Diagnosis and treatment are influenced by health inequalities. Early findings from a study by British academics presented to delegates showed that people with a mental health condition are less likely to receive the same level of treatment as those without.
Researchers examined the likelihood that patients with stages 1, 2 and 3 breast cancer underwent different types of surgery and found that those with mental health disorders were significantly less likely to undergo breast-conserving surgery than those without a history of mental health disorders. Those who were hospitalized or had to go to the emergency room were the least likely to undergo breast-conserving surgery. This may help explain the lower survival rates of patients with a history of mental health disorders, the authors concluded.
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4. More than 1.4 million children worldwide lost their fathers to cancer in 2020
Children who have lost one or both parents often face health, economic and social disadvantages throughout their lives. Figures presented by the International Agency for Research on Cancer at the congress calculated for the first time the extent of these losses.
It is estimated that 1.41 million children worldwide lost their fathers to cancer. Nearly three-quarters of the deaths occurred in people over 45 years of age, and most deaths were from gastrointestinal, liver, lung and tracheal cancers, which are strongly associated with commercial determinants of health such as alcohol and smoking.
A separate study by US academics of different types of alcohol warning labels showed the difficulties of communicating the links between drinking and cancer. Although a message of “no safe level” of alcohol consumption and cancer increased awareness of the risks of drinking the most, it was also the message least believed, compared with “the less you drink, the lower the risk” or “the more you drink, the higher the risk”.