Overview
- Using 2023 data, researchers estimated about 2.3 million new cases, 764,000 deaths, and roughly 24 million healthy life‑years lost worldwide.
- An estimated 28% of that burden was attributable to six factors: high red‑meat intake (11%), smoking including passive smoking (8%), high blood sugar (6%), high BMI (4%), high alcohol use (2%), and insufficient physical activity (2%).
- Since 1990, breast cancer burden tied to alcohol and tobacco has fallen by about 47% and 28% respectively, with little progress for the other risks.
- Projections suggest annual cases could reach 3.5 million by 2050 and deaths could approach 1.4 million without stronger prevention and care access.
- Authors describe earlier diagnosis and comprehensive treatment in higher‑income countries versus later detection and higher mortality in lower‑resource settings; in Germany, age‑standardized incidence rose about 22% since 1990 as mortality fell about 23%, with roughly 75,000 cases and 18,500 deaths each year.