7 ms·

Cancer Incidence by Country

54 points by gniv 2y ago

ashtami8 2y ago
[flagged]
- Aeolun 2y ago
  It’s because all other countries fall in that bin. You don’t make a bin for an outlier of that kind. Likely it strips off the crazy outliers at both the top and bottom when making bins.
- nabla9 2y ago
  [flagged]
School-Cotton 2y ago
It’s not the only variable but this seems closely correlated with wealth/development. Perhaps cancer is less commonly diagnosed in poorer countries, and perhaps also people in them are more likely to die of something else before cancer gets them.
- delichon 2y ago
  "This has been age-standardized, assuming a constant age structure of the population for comparisons between countries and over time."
- littlestymaar 2y ago
  That doesn't explain the massive discrepancy between the US and the rest of the Western world.
  - LunaSea 2y ago
    Life expectancy is lower in the US. About the same as Poland's.
namanyayg 2y ago
(Their data is from 2021) It's strange to see US and Canada be so heavily skewed towards higher per capita rates.
- nabla9 2y ago
  Is it really? Private healthcare incentive to provide a good health insurance and overtreatement for healthy and no insurance or treatment for sick. That's shows as 3 year lower life expectancy compared to western Europe and Canada.
steelbrain 2y ago
The numbers in Poland seem pretty out of place. Does anyone know why?
- walthamstow 2y ago
  Coal pollution and processed pork consumption are possible causes. It's also newly developed, today's GDP per capita is not the same economy Poles have been living in most of their lives.
DangerousPie 2y ago
Keep in mind this is the incidence of cancer diagnoses. The quality of healthcare, diagnosis standards, and amount of preemptive screening varies heavily between countries.
- dinobones 2y ago
  To control for this I personally like comparing Murica North vs Murica South. (USA vs AUS). 3,304 vs 750
- FrustratedMonky 2y ago
  Yes. But I'd assume Europe would have at least equal diagnoses capability. So number of diagnoses should be similar. So is US that much worse than Europe? Then we could start trying to pick apart differences, like diet, walking.
  - pantalaimon 2y ago
    What’s interesting is that Poland appears to stand out in Europe
    - littlestymaar 2y ago
      And it's unlikely to be due to better diagnosis than Switzerland…
    - marginalia_nu 2y ago
      One factor that Poland shares with the US is their enthusiasm for fracking. Could of course just be a coincidence.
      - FrustratedMonky 2y ago
        Food? Polish Sausage. Maybe both big Sausage eaters. But then I'd think Germany would be similar?
leemailll 2y ago
Why Poland is high? Also I suspect most of the countries on the map with low rates are not low with cancer rates but worse public health system. So not very telling
- orbital-decay 2y ago
  There's a timeline in that chart, and the rate for Poland suddenly goes up in 2008. That's clearly an artifact.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- rich_sasha 2y ago
  I can imagine countries with poor healthcare and low life expectancy genuinely have less cancer incidence, because people die before they reach prime cancer age.
- Jensson 2y ago
  People go to Poland to get cheap private healthcare, but normally that is for things like plastic surgery so not sure if it would affect it.
- littlestymaar 2y ago
  > Also I suspect most of the countries on the map with low rates are not low with cancer rates but worse public health system. So not very telling For southern countries, obviously. But the discrepancy between Western Europe (+ Australia and New Zealand) and US+Canada is quite intriguing to say the least.
- Ralfp 2y ago
  We have high environmental pollution in both air and water. Also high rates of alcohol consumption and smoking. And poor food quality.
- gniv 2y ago
  Good question about Poland. Would be interesting to see stats on various types of cancers there to get an idea why it's so high. Edit: I found a paper: https://journals.viamedica.pl/nowotwory_journal_of_oncology/article/view/99065 https://journals.viamedica.pl/nowotwory_journal_of_oncology/...
Reubend 2y ago
This seems to indicate that the USA has vastly more cancer diagnoses than European countries even after adjusting for age. Is there already research that explains why? Is this a well known phenomenon?
- Simon_ORourke 2y ago
  I'd speculate that a lot of this is down to the kind of diagnostic tests run on the typical patient coming in for treatment. I know from personal experience that in Europe it's a lot less and tends to be a "take an advil, go home and rest" while on my last trip to hospital for broken toe I got every blood test possible done too. As a doctor friend of mine says, if you apply enough analysis you'll find something wrong somewhere. I think this might be the case in the US and Canada.
  - reducesuffering 2y ago
    I don’t think that’s the main culprit. US has higher incomes than most Euro countries but generally 5 years less of life expectancy. I think there’s at least one major environmental culprit that Americans will eventually be incensed at, like the Sackler situation but much worse.
    - Gare 2y ago
      Maybe income inequality?
      - reducesuffering 2y ago
        Then Mexico would be worst. And UK would be high with Canada lower. But none of those show up.
    - gniv 2y ago
      I have the same suspicion. I wonder if it's some construction materials. US builds very differently from the rest of the world.
rich_sasha 2y ago
I see in Europe Poland is a massive outlier, even compared to much poorer per capita neighbours such as Ukraine or Belarus. I wonder if (a) it's genuine, (b) if it, is it because some other crucial variables are different (society age, other causes if mortality etc) and finally (c) if it's not a statistical artifact, then why is there more cancer in Poland. One reason that comes to mind is that Poland very much has a culture of going to see a doctor and getting examined for every little thing. UK for example has an ethos of "take some paracetamol and get on with it". But no idea if that's the actual cause.
- arghwhat 2y ago
  I imagine PM2.5 would be a significant cancer contributor in the area. Poland has somewhere between the worst and second worst air pollution in europe. They are primarily coal-powered (~70% of energy production) and have had issues with private individuals burning trash. Poland contributes about 8% of the PM2.5 pollution in Denmark despite the wind not being direct - Germany contributing 22% due to a more “favorable” wind, and Denmark itself contributing 20%.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
wzdd 2y ago
I had a quick look but didn't find a reference to how much each country tests, what exactly they test for, and what constitutes a definition of "cancer" per-country (for example, do countries both classify and report non-malignant neoplasms the same way). Without this info I don't think it's possible to draw any conclusions, except between countries with (presumably) fairly similar reporting and testing regimes thanks to a long shared history, such as the UK and Australia.
- littlestymaar 2y ago
  > fairly similar reporting and testing regimes thanks to a long shared history, such as the UK and Australia. Why would this result in such a difference with Canada then?
  - roenxi 2y ago
    The US is such an outrageous outlier that it does seem suspicious. Stereotyping the US health system, my first bet would be that doctors in the US can charge patients slightly more if they identify a cancer.
    - ChocolateGod 2y ago
      It could also be due to the EU's stricter pollution, chemical and food regulations compared to the US, the Brussels effect tends to make them apply globally to smaller markets.
      - scoofy 2y ago
        I honestly think it could be as simple as being proportional with obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and sugar consumption that exist in the US and Canada. The US and Canada really stand out specifically in their suburban infrastructure, which may strongly correlate with cancers in very obscure ways, such as simply needing more preservatives, such as sugars in bread, simply because people buy more in bulk because the culture of supermarkets. I'll be honest, I think the chart needs a full explanation, but when I think of the US and Canada, and what makes them really unique, it's the complete lack of walking anywhere except the few urban centers.
reducesuffering 2y ago
The chart here indicates the US is practically the only country with high and still increasing rates. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cancer-incidence?tab=chart https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cancer-incidence?tab=char...
- miniupuchaty 2y ago
  Not if you add Poland to the graph. Really surprised by this as a Pole.
blueCat34 2y ago
It's curious to see how, in the face of a higher rate of cancer, many people think that more tests are done in the US and Canada. What about the causes of cancer? Diet, sedentary lifestyle, expensive health system...
- oglop 2y ago
  This is hacker news, why would people make reasonable inferences? Better to either make it a class issue or better yet make a long winded post about the methodology and condescend everyone into nothing. Obviously something is wrong, but you’re asking the population of people who for decades has said nothing is wrong. HN is extremely biased in this way. Never come here to learn. Its just to peak into the minds of the rich and autistic.
tiku 2y ago
Poland is an interesting case, why are they having much more cancer than the rest of Europe?
- xanderlewis 2y ago
  Eating sausages? Not trying to be offensive; I’m serious.
  - ahoka 2y ago
    I don’t think that’s unique to Poland.
    - xanderlewis 2y ago
      Of course not, but the average consumption seems to be higher. Particularly (relatively highly processed) dried and cured sausages which are supposedly associated with higher rates of certain kinds of cancers.
      - ahoka 2y ago
        I think this is a very stereotypical and stupid theory. The most common cancers are prostate or breast cancer in Poland: https://journals.viamedica.pl/nowotwory_journal_of_oncology/article/view/99065#:~:text=Results.,%2C%20lung%2C%20and%20colorectal%20cancers https://journals.viamedica.pl/nowotwory_journal_of_oncology/....
        xanderlewis 2y ago
        Those are the most common everywhere, so it doesn’t explain the disparity. Why is it stupid? Because it’s a stereotype? Do you know where stereotypes come from? Also: it’s not a serious ‘theory’; it was just a small amount of speculation.
- tevlon 2y ago
  Poland burns a lot of coal in the winter for heating, which results in poor air quality: https://www.reddit.com/r/AirQuality/comments/1b5os4w/what_is_going_on_with_air_quality_in_poland/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AirQuality/comments/1b5os4w/what_is...
gravelc 2y ago
Surprised Australia isn't much higher given the incidence of melanoma.
- cqqxo4zV46cp 2y ago
  She’ll be ‘right.
bofadeez 2y ago
Seems like there's absolutely nothing UNIQUELY in common amongst countries with high incidence rates as compared to those with low incidence rates. AI agrees.
anonu 2y ago
The source data site has tons of great visuals and analysis: https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd The link provided by OP lacks context IMO.
wjSgoWPm5bWAhXB 2y ago
North America have at least lowest mortality rate https://gco.iarc.who.int/today/en/dataviz/bars?types=0_1&mode=population https://gco.iarc.who.int/today/en/dataviz/bars?types=0_1&mod...
stevev 2y ago
Fast foods and a laxed FDA. - US
konschubert 2y ago
Is this controlling for the distribution of the population age? You should probably computed the incidence, give a persons age in each country. Then, you can take any age distribution, re-weight the incidence in each country with that, and you will get an informative metric.
- yaantc 2y ago
  See just above the map: "This has been age-standardized, assuming a constant age structure of the population for comparisons between countries and over time.". This is what you suggests IIUC?
  - konschubert 2y ago
    Yes and i apologise for not seeing this.
pembrook 2y ago
I’m certain most people will draw the wrong conclusions from this and use it as evidence of [insert trendy boogieman]. Eg. processed food! Microplastics! Smartphones! Etc! But this says more about the economic status and healthcare systems of each of these countries than it does anything about actual human cancer rates in said countries. For example, in the US, the forms of cancer with the highest growing incidence rates (on a population basis) are the hardest to detect and least deadly —- like thyroid cancer, melanoma, etc —- due to advancements in diagnostics. In the past (and in poorer countries today), these things still go unnoticed.
- oliwarner 2y ago
  But often not undiagnosed. Many countries in the EU investigate otherwise-unexplained deaths and if they find cancer, it's listed on the death certificate. The data here appears to include that. So unless there's a problem with over-diagnosis in North America, the EU would appear to have a lower incidence rate. I agree, the difference is stark and suspicious but we should be a bit more thorough before ignoring data like this. There must be other US vs ... studies out there, right?
  - pembrook 2y ago
    This doesn’t explain Germany though, it has similar rates to the US. If the EU were so much healthier, why would this be the case?
    - yorwba 2y ago
      3,304.9 vs 956.6 per 100,000 are "similar rates"? Are we looking at the same data?
    - oliwarner 2y ago
      Are you talking about Poland? Similar colour but half the rate of USA.
dredmorbius 2y ago
Source data comes from IHME, Global Burden of Disease (2024), "with major processing by Our World in Data". The upstream source is here, though I'll note that the most recent report is for 2021, though published in 2024: <https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd> Direct PDF link: <https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/2024-05/GBD_2021_Booklet_FINAL_2024.05.16.pdf https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/2024-05/GBD_2...> (PDF) (24pp.) Global cancer trends: <https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/cancer https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/cancer> Lung, colorectal, stomach, and breast lead.
voytec 2y ago
As someone born and living in Poland, I'm not surprised by high cancer rates. But cancer is still peanuts in comparison to hypertension death rate. "Polish diet" is basically growth hormone-boosted pork meat, potatoes and some beets or sauerkraut on the side, followed by sugar and flavoring diluted in saturated fat as a dessert. Sweets sold in our stores have different ingredients than the same brands sold in Germany, Austria or Sweden. We breathe coal smoke all winter (I literally moved to seaside for better air; ~35 AQI at the time of writing this) to heat ourselves and export electricity to Germany. We eat shitton of salt because apart from coal mines, we also have salt mines and government propaganda is that MSG is unhealthy. You can see products marketed as "ZERO GLUTAMATES" on store shelves, and a quick look at nutrients table, shows tons of sodium. Most restaurants oversalt to get you to buy more drinks. To add, Polish people smoke cheap cigatrettes like chimneys. I remember ashtrays even on pharmacies' counters in the 80s - it was unthinkable to extinguish your lit tabacco when entering the pharmacy. That said, we still have much lower (lower==better) Air Quality Index, usually tens to hundreds times lower than India, and Indian food isn't healthy, too. I'm not sure if the data coming from particular countries is reliable.
- poland_stronk 2y ago
  [flagged]
- skill_kong 2y ago
  [flagged]
- poland_femboy 2y ago
  [flagged]
- expat_pl 2y ago
  [dead]

54 points by gniv 2y ago

ashtami8 2y ago

[flagged]

Aeolun 2y ago
It’s because all other countries fall in that bin. You don’t make a bin for an outlier of that kind. Likely it strips off the crazy outliers at both the top and bottom when making bins.
nabla9 2y ago
[flagged]

School-Cotton 2y ago

It’s not the only variable but this seems closely correlated with wealth/development. Perhaps cancer is less commonly diagnosed in poorer countries, and perhaps also people in them are more likely to die of something else before cancer gets them.

delichon 2y ago
"This has been age-standardized, assuming a constant age structure of the population for comparisons between countries and over time."
littlestymaar 2y ago
That doesn't explain the massive discrepancy between the US and the rest of the Western world.
- LunaSea 2y ago
  Life expectancy is lower in the US. About the same as Poland's.

namanyayg 2y ago

(Their data is from 2021) It's strange to see US and Canada be so heavily skewed towards higher per capita rates.

nabla9 2y ago
Is it really? Private healthcare incentive to provide a good health insurance and overtreatement for healthy and no insurance or treatment for sick. That's shows as 3 year lower life expectancy compared to western Europe and Canada.

steelbrain 2y ago

The numbers in Poland seem pretty out of place. Does anyone know why?

walthamstow 2y ago
Coal pollution and processed pork consumption are possible causes. It's also newly developed, today's GDP per capita is not the same economy Poles have been living in most of their lives.

DangerousPie 2y ago

Keep in mind this is the incidence of cancer diagnoses. The quality of healthcare, diagnosis standards, and amount of preemptive screening varies heavily between countries.

dinobones 2y ago
To control for this I personally like comparing Murica North vs Murica South. (USA vs AUS). 3,304 vs 750
FrustratedMonky 2y ago
Yes. But I'd assume Europe would have at least equal diagnoses capability. So number of diagnoses should be similar. So is US that much worse than Europe? Then we could start trying to pick apart differences, like diet, walking.
- pantalaimon 2y ago
  What’s interesting is that Poland appears to stand out in Europe
  - littlestymaar 2y ago
    And it's unlikely to be due to better diagnosis than Switzerland…
  - marginalia_nu 2y ago
    One factor that Poland shares with the US is their enthusiasm for fracking. Could of course just be a coincidence.
    - FrustratedMonky 2y ago
      Food? Polish Sausage. Maybe both big Sausage eaters. But then I'd think Germany would be similar?

leemailll 2y ago

Why Poland is high? Also I suspect most of the countries on the map with low rates are not low with cancer rates but worse public health system. So not very telling

orbital-decay 2y ago
There's a timeline in that chart, and the rate for Poland suddenly goes up in 2008. That's clearly an artifact.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
rich_sasha 2y ago
I can imagine countries with poor healthcare and low life expectancy genuinely have less cancer incidence, because people die before they reach prime cancer age.
Jensson 2y ago
People go to Poland to get cheap private healthcare, but normally that is for things like plastic surgery so not sure if it would affect it.
littlestymaar 2y ago
> Also I suspect most of the countries on the map with low rates are not low with cancer rates but worse public health system. So not very telling For southern countries, obviously. But the discrepancy between Western Europe (+ Australia and New Zealand) and US+Canada is quite intriguing to say the least.
Ralfp 2y ago
We have high environmental pollution in both air and water. Also high rates of alcohol consumption and smoking. And poor food quality.
gniv 2y ago
Good question about Poland. Would be interesting to see stats on various types of cancers there to get an idea why it's so high. Edit: I found a paper: https://journals.viamedica.pl/nowotwory_journal_of_oncology/article/view/99065 https://journals.viamedica.pl/nowotwory_journal_of_oncology/...

Reubend 2y ago

This seems to indicate that the USA has vastly more cancer diagnoses than European countries even after adjusting for age. Is there already research that explains why? Is this a well known phenomenon?

Simon_ORourke 2y ago
I'd speculate that a lot of this is down to the kind of diagnostic tests run on the typical patient coming in for treatment. I know from personal experience that in Europe it's a lot less and tends to be a "take an advil, go home and rest" while on my last trip to hospital for broken toe I got every blood test possible done too. As a doctor friend of mine says, if you apply enough analysis you'll find something wrong somewhere. I think this might be the case in the US and Canada.
- reducesuffering 2y ago
  I don’t think that’s the main culprit. US has higher incomes than most Euro countries but generally 5 years less of life expectancy. I think there’s at least one major environmental culprit that Americans will eventually be incensed at, like the Sackler situation but much worse.
  - Gare 2y ago
    Maybe income inequality?
    - reducesuffering 2y ago
      Then Mexico would be worst. And UK would be high with Canada lower. But none of those show up.
  - gniv 2y ago
    I have the same suspicion. I wonder if it's some construction materials. US builds very differently from the rest of the world.

rich_sasha 2y ago

I see in Europe Poland is a massive outlier, even compared to much poorer per capita neighbours such as Ukraine or Belarus. I wonder if (a) it's genuine, (b) if it, is it because some other crucial variables are different (society age, other causes if mortality etc) and finally (c) if it's not a statistical artifact, then why is there more cancer in Poland. One reason that comes to mind is that Poland very much has a culture of going to see a doctor and getting examined for every little thing. UK for example has an ethos of "take some paracetamol and get on with it". But no idea if that's the actual cause.

arghwhat 2y ago
I imagine PM2.5 would be a significant cancer contributor in the area. Poland has somewhere between the worst and second worst air pollution in europe. They are primarily coal-powered (~70% of energy production) and have had issues with private individuals burning trash. Poland contributes about 8% of the PM2.5 pollution in Denmark despite the wind not being direct - Germany contributing 22% due to a more “favorable” wind, and Denmark itself contributing 20%.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

wzdd 2y ago

I had a quick look but didn't find a reference to how much each country tests, what exactly they test for, and what constitutes a definition of "cancer" per-country (for example, do countries both classify and report non-malignant neoplasms the same way). Without this info I don't think it's possible to draw any conclusions, except between countries with (presumably) fairly similar reporting and testing regimes thanks to a long shared history, such as the UK and Australia.

littlestymaar 2y ago
> fairly similar reporting and testing regimes thanks to a long shared history, such as the UK and Australia. Why would this result in such a difference with Canada then?
- roenxi 2y ago
  The US is such an outrageous outlier that it does seem suspicious. Stereotyping the US health system, my first bet would be that doctors in the US can charge patients slightly more if they identify a cancer.
  - ChocolateGod 2y ago
    It could also be due to the EU's stricter pollution, chemical and food regulations compared to the US, the Brussels effect tends to make them apply globally to smaller markets.
    - scoofy 2y ago
      I honestly think it could be as simple as being proportional with obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and sugar consumption that exist in the US and Canada. The US and Canada really stand out specifically in their suburban infrastructure, which may strongly correlate with cancers in very obscure ways, such as simply needing more preservatives, such as sugars in bread, simply because people buy more in bulk because the culture of supermarkets. I'll be honest, I think the chart needs a full explanation, but when I think of the US and Canada, and what makes them really unique, it's the complete lack of walking anywhere except the few urban centers.

reducesuffering 2y ago

The chart here indicates the US is practically the only country with high and still increasing rates. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cancer-incidence?tab=chart https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cancer-incidence?tab=char...

miniupuchaty 2y ago
Not if you add Poland to the graph. Really surprised by this as a Pole.

blueCat34 2y ago

It's curious to see how, in the face of a higher rate of cancer, many people think that more tests are done in the US and Canada. What about the causes of cancer? Diet, sedentary lifestyle, expensive health system...

oglop 2y ago
This is hacker news, why would people make reasonable inferences? Better to either make it a class issue or better yet make a long winded post about the methodology and condescend everyone into nothing. Obviously something is wrong, but you’re asking the population of people who for decades has said nothing is wrong. HN is extremely biased in this way. Never come here to learn. Its just to peak into the minds of the rich and autistic.

tiku 2y ago

Poland is an interesting case, why are they having much more cancer than the rest of Europe?

xanderlewis 2y ago
Eating sausages? Not trying to be offensive; I’m serious.
- ahoka 2y ago
  I don’t think that’s unique to Poland.
  - xanderlewis 2y ago
    Of course not, but the average consumption seems to be higher. Particularly (relatively highly processed) dried and cured sausages which are supposedly associated with higher rates of certain kinds of cancers.
    - ahoka 2y ago
      I think this is a very stereotypical and stupid theory. The most common cancers are prostate or breast cancer in Poland: https://journals.viamedica.pl/nowotwory_journal_of_oncology/article/view/99065#:~:text=Results.,%2C%20lung%2C%20and%20colorectal%20cancers https://journals.viamedica.pl/nowotwory_journal_of_oncology/....
      - xanderlewis 2y ago
        Those are the most common everywhere, so it doesn’t explain the disparity. Why is it stupid? Because it’s a stereotype? Do you know where stereotypes come from? Also: it’s not a serious ‘theory’; it was just a small amount of speculation.
tevlon 2y ago
Poland burns a lot of coal in the winter for heating, which results in poor air quality: https://www.reddit.com/r/AirQuality/comments/1b5os4w/what_is_going_on_with_air_quality_in_poland/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AirQuality/comments/1b5os4w/what_is...

gravelc 2y ago

Surprised Australia isn't much higher given the incidence of melanoma.

cqqxo4zV46cp 2y ago
She’ll be ‘right.

bofadeez 2y ago

Seems like there's absolutely nothing UNIQUELY in common amongst countries with high incidence rates as compared to those with low incidence rates. AI agrees.

anonu 2y ago

The source data site has tons of great visuals and analysis: https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd The link provided by OP lacks context IMO.

wjSgoWPm5bWAhXB 2y ago

North America have at least lowest mortality rate https://gco.iarc.who.int/today/en/dataviz/bars?types=0_1&mode=population https://gco.iarc.who.int/today/en/dataviz/bars?types=0_1&mod...

stevev 2y ago

Fast foods and a laxed FDA. - US

konschubert 2y ago

Is this controlling for the distribution of the population age? You should probably computed the incidence, give a persons age in each country. Then, you can take any age distribution, re-weight the incidence in each country with that, and you will get an informative metric.

yaantc 2y ago
See just above the map: "This has been age-standardized, assuming a constant age structure of the population for comparisons between countries and over time.". This is what you suggests IIUC?
- konschubert 2y ago
  Yes and i apologise for not seeing this.

pembrook 2y ago

I’m certain most people will draw the wrong conclusions from this and use it as evidence of [insert trendy boogieman]. Eg. processed food! Microplastics! Smartphones! Etc! But this says more about the economic status and healthcare systems of each of these countries than it does anything about actual human cancer rates in said countries. For example, in the US, the forms of cancer with the highest growing incidence rates (on a population basis) are the hardest to detect and least deadly —- like thyroid cancer, melanoma, etc —- due to advancements in diagnostics. In the past (and in poorer countries today), these things still go unnoticed.

oliwarner 2y ago
But often not undiagnosed. Many countries in the EU investigate otherwise-unexplained deaths and if they find cancer, it's listed on the death certificate. The data here appears to include that. So unless there's a problem with over-diagnosis in North America, the EU would appear to have a lower incidence rate. I agree, the difference is stark and suspicious but we should be a bit more thorough before ignoring data like this. There must be other US vs ... studies out there, right?
- pembrook 2y ago
  This doesn’t explain Germany though, it has similar rates to the US. If the EU were so much healthier, why would this be the case?
  - yorwba 2y ago
    3,304.9 vs 956.6 per 100,000 are "similar rates"? Are we looking at the same data?
  - oliwarner 2y ago
    Are you talking about Poland? Similar colour but half the rate of USA.

dredmorbius 2y ago

Source data comes from IHME, Global Burden of Disease (2024), "with major processing by Our World in Data". The upstream source is here, though I'll note that the most recent report is for 2021, though published in 2024: <https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd> Direct PDF link: <https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/2024-05/GBD_2021_Booklet_FINAL_2024.05.16.pdf https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/2024-05/GBD_2...> (PDF) (24pp.) Global cancer trends: <https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/cancer https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/cancer> Lung, colorectal, stomach, and breast lead.

voytec 2y ago

As someone born and living in Poland, I'm not surprised by high cancer rates. But cancer is still peanuts in comparison to hypertension death rate. "Polish diet" is basically growth hormone-boosted pork meat, potatoes and some beets or sauerkraut on the side, followed by sugar and flavoring diluted in saturated fat as a dessert. Sweets sold in our stores have different ingredients than the same brands sold in Germany, Austria or Sweden. We breathe coal smoke all winter (I literally moved to seaside for better air; ~35 AQI at the time of writing this) to heat ourselves and export electricity to Germany. We eat shitton of salt because apart from coal mines, we also have salt mines and government propaganda is that MSG is unhealthy. You can see products marketed as "ZERO GLUTAMATES" on store shelves, and a quick look at nutrients table, shows tons of sodium. Most restaurants oversalt to get you to buy more drinks. To add, Polish people smoke cheap cigatrettes like chimneys. I remember ashtrays even on pharmacies' counters in the 80s - it was unthinkable to extinguish your lit tabacco when entering the pharmacy. That said, we still have much lower (lower==better) Air Quality Index, usually tens to hundreds times lower than India, and Indian food isn't healthy, too. I'm not sure if the data coming from particular countries is reliable.

poland_stronk 2y ago
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skill_kong 2y ago
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poland_femboy 2y ago
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expat_pl 2y ago
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