GENEVA — Breast cancer has overtaken lung cancer as the most common form of the disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Tuesday.
“For the first time, breast cancer now constitutes the most commonly occurring cancer globally,” Andre Ilbawi, a cancer specialist at the WHO, told a U.N. briefing ahead of World Cancer Day on Thursday.
Lung cancer was the most common type for the last two decades, but is now in second place, ahead of colorectal cancer, which is the third most widespread, Ilbawi said.
Ilbawi noted that obesity in women was a common risk factor in breast cancer, and is also driving overall cancer numbers.
As the global population grows and life expectancy…
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