Avoidable deaths through the primary prevention, early detection, and curative treatment of cancer worldwide: a population-based study

Global disparities exist in cancer incidence, mortality, and survival. We aimed to provide estimates of avoidable deaths among people diagnosed with cancer to inform the prioritisation of interventions and narrow cancer inequalities.

National incidence estimates for 35 cancer sites in 2022 for 185 countries were extracted from the GLOBOCAN database. We estimated numbers of avoidable deaths within 5 years of diagnosis for patients diagnosed with cancer in 2022, consisting of those deaths avoidable through primary prevention (preventable deaths) and those avoidable through early detection and improved access to treatment (treatable deaths) by cancer site, country, region, and human development index (HDI) group. Preventable deaths were estimated using population attributable fractions for tobacco use, alcohol consumption, excess body weight, infectious agents, and ultraviolet radiation obtained from the literature. Treatable deaths were estimated by eliminating survival differences using 5-year net survival from the SURVCAN-3 project and additional sources. Preventable, treatable, and overall avoidable deaths as proportions of the total expected deaths within 5 years of cancer diagnosis were also calculated.