Vienna (EFE).- A new study calculates the global economic cost of cancer, the main cause of death in the world, at 0.55% per year of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the planet.
This is the result of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association by a team of researchers from the Austrian International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Iiasa).
Cancer is, according to this research, the leading cause of death in the world and claims the lives of almost 10 million people each year.
The incidence of the disease is also increasing due to the aging of the population, smoking, alcohol and air pollution, among other causes.
“Cancer not only affects health, but also the economy: it places an enormous financial burden on countries due to reduced productivity, lost labor and decreased investment,” Iiasa said in a statement. .
The cost of 29 types of cancer has been calculated in most countries of the world
Researchers have calculated the economic cost of 29 types of cancer in most countries of the world.
“Many of the current economic studies on cancer are static and do not take into account the future consequences of current losses in labor and treatment costs,” says Michael Kuhn, co-author of the study.
The research estimates that the global economic cost of cancers between 2020 and 2050 would be around 25.2 trillion dollars, which is equivalent to 0.55% of annual global GDP.
Iiasa experts also identified the type of cancers that carry the greatest economic burden, with lung cancer in first place, followed by colon and rectal cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, and leukemia.
“The four most economically detrimental types of cancer are amenable to primary and secondary prevention, such as smoking, dietary, and alcohol interventions and increased screening,” concludes Kuhn.