NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - There were 10 million new cases of cancer in the world in the year 2000, 6 million deaths and approximately 22 million people living with cancer worldwide, according to a new report on global cancer statistics.

Lung cancer heads the list as the most common type of cancer in terms of new cases (1.2 million, accounting for 12.3% of the world total) and deaths (1.1 million, or 17.8% of the world total). After lung cancer, the most common types of new cancer cases were breast, colorectal, stomach and liver. The report, by Dr. D. Maxwell Parkin of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, is published in the September issue of The Lancet Oncology. Parkin predicts that stomach cancer rates, which are decreasing, will continue to do so. However, he points out that the increasing risk of prostate and breast cancer ``is likely to be maintained for some time.'' He also notes that while lung cancer in some nations has started to decrease, the numbers are likely to be offset by rising rates in certain eastern European countries and future increases in developing nations. Since the largest changes in population growth and increasing age of populations are expected to take place in developing countries as opposed to developed nations, ``more and more of the future cancer burden will be in these regions,'' according to Parkin. For instance, by 2020, projections suggest there will be as many as 9 million new cases of cancer in developing nations, as opposed to 6 million new cases in developed nations. ``These simple projections,'' Parkin writes, ``illustrate the increasing toll that cancer will take in our aging world populations, and highlight the need to seek and apply effective preventative measures, as well as to strive for continued improvements in the effectiveness of treatment.''

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