Mortality Trends for Lung Cancer and Smoking Prevalence In Peru

Abstract

Objectives: Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related deathworldwide. Have been reported high mortality rates from lung cancer in Latin America, but the disparities within the regions of Peru and under-reporting death certification reported prevent the inclusion of Peru in analysis of the mortality trends for lung cancer. We evaluated lung cancer mortality trends and smoking prevalence in Peru and its geographical areas. Materials and Methods: We obtained the data from the registry of the Peruvian Ministry of Health between 2008 and 2017. Mortality rates per 100,000 person-years were computed using the world's SEGI population and trends were analyzed using the Joinpoint regression Program Version 4.7.0. Smoking prevalence was estimated from the Demographic and Family Health Survey. Results: In Peru, mortality rates were roughly 1.3 times higher in males than in females. The coast region had significant downward trends among males, whereas the highlands region had significant upward trends among females. According to provinces, Apurimac showed an annually significant rise in both sexes (+10.6% in males, and +11.6% in females). In general, smoking prevalence was higher in males compared to females, principally among young adults. Conclusions: Peru showed downward mortality trends in the last decade with variability across regions. Males had a higher smoking prevalence, principally among young adults. Public health interventions for smoking reduction should be implemented to reduce lung cancer mortality.

Proportion of cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in Peru

“…These findings are explained by successful tobacco control policies that have reduced consumption trends over the past two decades. However, poor access to diagnosis and under-reporting of lung cancer is possible, especially in rural remote regions away from the capital [ 2 , 37 ]. On the other hand, UV radiation holds minimal relevance in Peru, as most skin melanomas are unrelated to UV radiation (acral melanomas) [ 38 ].…”

“…Prioritizing optimal vaccination coverage against oncogenic infections such as HPV and HBV [ 39 , 40 ]. Simultaneously, implementing effective strategies to promote healthy lifestyles in the population, including reducing tobacco consumption, increasing physical activity, and fostering healthy dietary habits is essential [ 8 , 37 ]. On the other hand, evidence from various researches, such as the analysis of mortality trends related to gastric cancer, demonstrates that improving access to safe water can significantly reduce the burden of gastric cancer attributed to Helicobacter pylori [ 34 , 40 – 43 ].…”

“…0n the contrary, there are very little evidence of PAF for cases and deaths for cancer in Latin-American countries and do not exits PAF’s studies in Peru that consider all the risk factors and allow the estimation of the total number of cancer cases and deaths attributable to said risk factors. However, do exits PAF studies of some risk factors and derivate diseases (as can be observe on the tobacco consumption [ 17 , 18 ] mortality tendencies for different cancer’s type, as gastric [ 19 ], kidney [ 20 ], cervical cancer [ 21 ], mesothelioma [ 22 ]). The sole Latin-American’s country that have one study of PAF for cancer is Brazil [ 16 ]; on the other hand, Chile has one PAF study that considers only lifestyle risk factors, not including oncogenic infections [ 23 ].…”

Mortality trends and geographic distribution of kidney cancer in Peru: a secondary analysis

“…It is therefore important to control the risk factors for the development of kidney cancer, such as smoking, obesity, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease [ 23 , 24 ]. In fact, the region with the highest mortality rate is the coast, which has the highest prevalence of the aforementioned risk factors [ 10 , 25 , 26 ]. In high income countries the diagnosis, management and treatment of kidney cancer have substantially improved over the last few decades [ 27 ], although with appreciable socio-economic differentials [ 28 ].…”

Proportion of cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in Peru prior to the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The importance in Peru for risk factors such as tobacco and ultraviolet radiation, as well as cancer cases and deaths, is notably less than in the majority of countries that count on PAF studies in which the weight of these factors is described (9,11,13,19,20) including much less than other neighboring Latin American countries such as Chile (26) and Brazil (15) . This is possibly because of the policy developments oriented towards the control of tobacco use which is evidenced by the downward trend of consumption in the last two decades, in addition to the possible underdiagnosed and underreporting of mortality by lung cancer in Peru, linked to the gap of specialist and subspecialists in diverse regions of the country (2,27) . On the other hand, UV radiation constitutes the factor with least relevance given that in Peru, the majority of skin melanomas are not related to UV radiation (acral melanomas) (28) .…”