Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Worldwide, infectious agents caused around 2.3 million new cancer cases in 2020, equivalent to 1 in 9 of all cancers diagnosed worldwide. Helicobacter pylori was the most important cause, with 850 000 new cancer cases attributed to the bacteria (36% of all infection-related cancers), followed by 730 000 cases (31%) associated with human papillomavirus and 380 000 cases (16%) with hepatitis B. Source: de Martel C, Georges D, Bray F, Ferlay J, Clifford GM. Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2018: a worldwide incidence analysis. Lancet Glob Health. 2020 Feb; 8(2):e180-e190. Available from: https://gco.iarc.who.int/causes/infections/home, Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer, accessed [27 March 2025]. Estimates were updated to 2020 based on the methods described in the above publication. Isabelle Soerjomataram (Conceptualization, Data Curation, Validation, Visualization, Writing—original draft), and Freddie Bray (Conceptualization, Data Curation, Validation, Visualization, Writing—review & editing). No funding was used for this Stat Bite. The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose. The data for which the estimates in this article are based are available at the Global Cancer Observatory, Cancer Causes website (https://gco.iarc.who.int/causes/infections/home).
DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djaf091
Authors: Isabelle Soerjomataram, Freddie Bray
Institution: Centre international de recherche sur le cancer
Language: English
Subfield: Oncology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: World Health Organization
OpenAlex ID: W4411128142