Have medical advances reduced cancer?
There are many dangerous foods around us. Some are said to be carcinogenic, yet continue to be sold to the public. Conversely, medical advances have been remarkable and it is said that cancer is no longer a dangerous disease. In this article, we will discuss the current state of cancer in Japan and the information that is widely available that may be useful to you.
In the past, cancer was feared as a “deadly disease” with a very high mortality rate, but today it is sometimes said that “even if you get cancer, you can survive it and it is not so hard if you treat it with the intention of living with it for the rest of your life”. But what is the actual situation?
One in two Japanese people will get cancer and one in five will die.
According to a survey by the National Cancer Centre, the probability of a Japanese person being diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime is 65.5% (1 in 2) for men and 51.2% for women. Furthermore, 26.2% (1 in 4) of men and 17.7% (1 in 6) of women die from cancer.
Even though smoking rates are supposed to be decreasing and people are becoming more aware of high-salt foods, morbidity and mortality rates continue to rise. There seems to be a big reason for this. Let’s look at the morbidity rates by site.
Stomach and liver cancer have been declining in recent years, while lung cancer has been increasing steadily. In addition, the incidence of prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women has increased by 20% to 30% in the last decade. There appears to be a significant difference in the incidence rates for each organ.
Major differences in mortality trends
The differences in mortality rates by site become more apparent when looking at trends in mortality rates. Whereas in the past, more Japanese people died from stomach cancer, since around 2000, more people have died from lung cancer. While death rates from cancer of the stomach, liver and various other parts of the body are decreasing, lung cancer is not decreasing, but increasing.
The two main causes of lung cancer are sometimes considered to be female hormones and air pollution. A high incidence of lung cancer has been reported in women who have undergone female hormone (oestrogen) replacement therapy. Breathing polluted air into the lungs, as well as as asbestos and other contaminants, can also increase the risk of lung cancer.
Surprising causes of death and insurance
So far, we have noted that cancer is the most common cause of death in Japan, but in fact cancer is not a direct cause of death.
Suppose, for example, that cancer occurs in the liver. If the liver functions decline and the patient dies from hepatitis or other causes, the direct cause of death would be liver dysfunction or hepatitis. If it metastasises to different parts of the body, the cause of death is multi-organ failure. If the whole body is further weakened, the death may be due to emaciation or senility.
In these cases, serious doctors do not write ‘cancer’ on the death certificate, but simply write ‘debility’ or ‘multiple organ failure’.
The problem in this case is if you have cancer death insurance. If the word ‘cancer’ is not on the medical certificate, it cannot be determined that cancer was the cause of death. In fact, this is how many people did not receive their insurance benefits.
Of course, this led to guidance, and insurance companies had to go back and investigate whether they had received cancer death benefits in the past. Most insurers have since pulled out of cancer death cover because it is simply ‘unprofitable’ insurance, with high morbidity and mortality rates, and because of the additional hassle and cost involved.
If someone close to you had a cancer death insurance policy, which is now very valuable, in the event of an emergency, you would have to write on the medical certificate “due to complications from cancer” or
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
By Admin|2023-11-24|News Release,|