TEHRAN –Cancers are the leading cause of premature mortality in the country, according to the health ministry.

Cancers account for more than 55 thousand deaths annually. Some 34 thousand deaths out of 122 thousand premature deaths (under 70 years of age) and 11 thousand deaths out of 85 thousand very premature deaths (under 50 years of age) are caused by various cancers.

The latest national cancer census shows that the number of new cancer cases in Iran is expected to increase to 160,000 by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (March 2025-March 2026), indicating an increase of 43 percent.

About 29 percent increase in cancers in Iran at that time will be related to changes in the demographic structure of Iran that is population growth and aging, and 14 percent is due to the development and aggravation of factors that increase cancers.

The most predicted rise in new cases of cancer in Iran during 1404 compared to 1395 (ended on March 20, 2017) will be thyroid cancer (114 percent), prostate (67 percent), breast (63 percent), colon (54 percent), ovary (51 percent), lung (49 percent), non-hodgkin's lymphoma (45 percent), brain and spine (40 percent), stomach (30 percent), bladder (26 percent) and blood cancer (24 percent).

The first 10 most common cancers in Iran are breast, prostate, colon, stomach, lung, bladder, thyroid, uterus, brain, and spine cancers.

The most common cancers of Iranian women include breast, colon, thyroid, stomach, uterine, leukemia, ovary, brain and spine, lungs and esophagus.

Around 250,000 Iranians are now living with cancer. Half of cancers can be almost treated and the rest can be avoided.

Cancer is known to be the most expensive disease in Iran and in the world, two-thirds of cancer patients suffer from the astronomical costs of cancer treatment.

The most important risk factors for cancers are unhealthy lifestyle, i.e. overeating, physical inactivity, obesity and overweight, not consuming fresh vegetables and fruits per day, smoking, tobacco, opium, alcohol, sugar and sweets, high-fat foods, salt, hot drinks, poor oral and dental hygiene and other risk factors including drinking polluted water, using biomass fuel in closed spaces, air pollution, infections, hepatitis and so on.

According to the surveys conducted in the last 30 years, breast cancer has the highest prevalence, 12 percent, among women in the country, constituting 26 percent of women's cancers.

In Iran, breast cancer is the second-leading cause of death in women. Currently, cancer treatment in the country is close to the world standard; less than 30 percent of patients die each year.

Almost 24 percent of patients in European countries are in stage zero and stage one, but in Iran, 37 percent are only in stage three. In the first stage, no patient dies, in the second stage, there is about 94 percent survival, and in the third stage, 90 percent of patients survive.

To lower the risk of coming down with cancer, people should make healthy choices like keeping a healthy weight, and taking up physical activities such as exercising and walking, while avoiding smoking, alcohol, fast food, and pollution.

National cancer control program

With the support of the World Health Organization, the national cancer control program has been developed, which sets out the Ministry of Health’s roadmap up to the Iranian calendar year 1404 (March 2025-March 2026).

The purpose of the program is to reduce cancer prevalence and mortality while improving the quality of patients’ lives, which can serve as a model for other countries, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

The program includes two important documents, namely, “development of national cancer care network” and “development of cancer human resources”, which resulted in the establishment of the early diagnostic centers.

In November 2022, the first phase of a national project aiming to take advantage of gene therapy for the treatment of children with cancer, known as "CAR T-cell therapy", came on stream.

In July 2021, Iran inaugurated an advanced ion therapy center for the first time in West Asia, with the aim of providing definitive treatment for all types of cancer.

The Ministry of Health has launched a plan aimed at preventing the three most common cancers among women, namely breast, colorectal, and cervical cancers, Ali Qanbari-Motlaq, a health ministry official, said in February.

These cancers are the most preventable cancers and at the same time they account for 40 percent of cancers among women and 25 percent of cancers both among men and women, ISNA quoted Qanbari-Motlaq as saying.

The pilot phase of the plan was carried out in 2016 and 2017, he said, adding that in 2018, the development plan of the first phase started.

He pointed out that almost 150,000 people in the country are diagnosed with cancer every year.

Countries are divided into five categories for cancer incidence, and Iran is at the average level in this regard, he noted.

MT/MG