Lung cancer on the rise in China

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Du Shifei, 29, smiles as she swipes through photos of her newborn son on her tablet, just like any mother. Yet she lies on a hospital bed in West China Hospital in Sichuan Province, with tubes plugged into her nose, and a cloth wrapped around her head to cover where used to be thick hair. She was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer earlier this year and has just had surgery.

“No other hospital would even agree to conduct surgery on me. I thought I was going to die,” she said, struggling to hold back her tears. “I thought if I die, my parents will have no one to depend on. My baby won't have a mother. That made me so sad.”

Du Shifei looks at photos of her newborn son. /CGTN Photo

Du is one of China’s millions of lung cancer patients. And the prevalence of the disease is only increasing. Latest figures show there are over 780,000 lung cancer diagnoses in China annually, accounting for 36 percent of the world's total. Some 620,000 Chinese people die of the disease every year. Experts have warned the trend is likely to continue for at least the next 20 years.

“Looking back on the past three decades, the lung cancer diagnosis rate in China increased by 465 percent,” said Zhou Qinghua, director of the Lung Cancer Center of West China Hospital. “That means we're not taking control of the disease. Quite the contrary.”

Zhou is known for his surgical skills, called “Zhou the Top Blade” by the many patients he saved. At 62, he’s still conducting up to 12 surgeries daily.

Open day at the West China Hospital’s Lung Cancer Center. /CGTN Photo

“Lung cancer is not scary. It’s preventable, and it’s treatable,” Zhou said, skipping lunch as usual to treat his patients. “But I hope I won’t have any patients to treat. What’s more important is prevention, screening, and early diagnosis.”

Zhou was one of the first cancer experts in China to call for smoking restrictions. An estimated 300 million Chinese people are smokers. A Lancet study found Chinese men, who constitute about a tenth of the world’s population, smoke one-third of the world’s cigarettes.

About one million Chinese people die each year from all smoking-related illnesses, according to state media reports. That number will rise to two million by 2025, and three million by mid-century, if no major disease prevention and treatment programs are put in place.

Smoking is one of the leading causes of lung cancer in China. /Photo via Reuters

Also, experts found lung cancer has been rising rapidly in groups not normally susceptible to the disease, including women and non-smokers, with long-term exposure to air pollution a possible culprit.

Several local studies have established links between cancer and air pollution. Research published last year by Hebei Medical University showed that lung cancer mortality rates in the province – known as China’s most polluted – nearly trebled in recent years from those four decades ago.

Smog is a possible culprit of China’s rising lung cancer prevalence. /Photo via Reuters

“We are hoping to prevent lung cancer on the molecular level in the future,” said Zhou, referring to a prevention method which involves vaccinations and therapeutic approaches to cancer-predisposing conditions. Right now, he’s still saving one life at a time.

Du Shifei’s surgery was successful. She still looks pale, but for the first time in months, she feels hopeful for her future. “I will see my son grow up,” she said.

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