ABSTRACT
Background:
Obesity-related
cancers in the 16 Southern African Development
Community (SADC) countries is quite prominent. The changes and
time trends of the burden of
obesity-related
cancers in
developing countries like SADC remain largely unknown. A descriptive epidemiological
analysis was conducted to assess the burden of
obesity-related
cancers, (
liver, esophageal,
breast,
prostate,
colon/rectal,
leukemia, ovarian, uterine, pancreatic,
kidney,
gallbladder/
biliary tract, and
thyroid cancers) in SADC countries.
Methods:
Data from the 2019 Global
Burden of Diseases Study was used. Deaths extracted from vital registration, verbal
autopsies and
ICD codes.
Cancer-type,
mortality and
prevalence per 100,000
population and 95%
uncertainty intervals (UIs) were calculated using the
Cause of Death Ensemble model and Spatio-Temporal Gaussian process with mixed effects regression models. Annual rates of change (AROCs) between 1990 and 2019 and the corresponding UIs were calculated.
Results:
The top age-standardized
mortality rates per 100,000 in 2019 for
males were
leukemia, 20.1(14.4-26.4),
esophageal cancer, 15.1 (11.2-19.1), and
colon and
rectal cancer, 10.3 (8.6-12.6). For
females,
breast cancer, 20.6 (16.6-25.0),
leukemia, 17.1 (11.4-23.7), and
esophageal cancer, 8.3 (5.5-10.7), had the leading
mortality rates. For
males, AROC substantial (p < 0.05) increase for
kidney cancer for 11 of the countries (AROC from 0.41% to 1.24%),
colon cancer for eight of the countries (from 0.39% to 0.92%), and
pancreatic cancer for seven countries (from 0.26% to 1.01%). In
females, AROC showed substantial increase for
pancreatic cancer for 13 of the countries from (0.34%-1.67%), nine countries for
kidney cancer (from 0.27% to 1.02%), seven countries each for
breast cancer (0.35%-1.13%), and
ovarian cancer (from 0.33% to 1.21%).
Conclusions:
There is need for
location-specific and culturally appropriate
strategies for better
nutrition and weight control, and improved
screening for all
cancers.
Health promotion messaging should target
kidney,
colon, pancreatic, and
breast cancers and encourage clinically tested
methods of reducing BMI such as increasing personal
physical activity and
adoption of effective dietary regimes.