Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Sep;6(9):e1873.
doi: 10.1002/cnr2.1873. Epub 2023 Aug 13.

Cancer prevalence, incidence, and mortality rates in Afghanistan in 2020: A review study

Nasar Ahmad Shayan  1 , Ali Rahimi  2 , Hilal Özcebe  3
Affiliations
Review

Cancer prevalence, incidence, and mortality rates in Afghanistan in 2020: A review study

Nasar Ahmad Shayan et al. Cancer Rep (Hoboken). 2023 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Afghanistan is in an epidemiological transition, as cancer is the second leading cause of mortality due to non-communicable diseases. This study is the first to provide a comprehensive perspective on the overall cancer situation in Afghanistan by discussing the top five most common cancers, their incidence variations, risk factors, and preventive measures. The limited number of cancer studies conducted in Afghanistan highlights the importance of the present review.

Recent findings: This article provides an overview of cancer burden in Afghanistan in 2020. It utilizes IARC-generated GLOBOCAN 2020 data for one, three, and five-year prevalence rates, the estimated number of new cancer cases, and mortality rates by age group in Afghanistan. According to GLOBOCAN, the top five common cancers in both sexes in Afghanistan were breast (n = 3173, 14.3%), stomach (n = 2913, 7.8%), lung (n = 1470, 6.6%), cervix uteri (n = 1200, 5.4%), and colorectum (n = 1084, 4.9%).

Conclusion: This study provides a brief overview of the general cancer situation in Afghanistan, and a more in-depth analysis of the five common cancers identified. Effective therapies, awareness, and prevention initiatives targeting lifestyle, immunization, early diagnosis, and environmental risk factors are essential for addressing the impact of population growth and aging on cancer incidence in Afghanistan. Further research and extensive studies are needed to better understand cancer burden in the country.

Keywords: Afghanistan; cancer; incidence; mortality; prevalence; risk factors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Top 5 cancers in Afghanistan, Incidence, Mortality, and 5‐year Prevalence.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bray F, Laversanne M, Weiderpass E, Soerjomataram I. The ever‐increasing importance of cancer as a leading cause of premature death worldwide. Cancer. 2021;127(16):3029‐3030. - PubMed
    1. WHO . Global health estimates 2020: deaths by cause, age, sex, by country and by region, 2000–2019. [Internet]. 2020. 2022. Available from: https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/mortality-and-global-health-est...
    1. Omran AR. The epidemiologic transition. A theory of the epidemiology of population change. Milbank Mem Fund Q. 1971;49(4):509‐538. - PubMed
    1. WHO . Cancer Afghanistan. 2020. country profile [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2022 Nov 20]. Available from: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/country-profiles/cancer/af...
    1. Pendharkar D, Salim‐Ul‐Zaman H. Epidemiology of cancer in Afghanistan. J Clin Oncol. 2009;27(suppl 15):e22200.