Are cancer rates going up or down? It seems like depending on where you look, you’ll find different answers to the question. What’s going on here — have some writers just got it completely wrong? Is it something to do with different types of cancer? Are we being confused by some kind of weird statistical artefact? All of the above? In this episode of The Studies Show, we do our very best to find out.
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Show notes
BBC Future article on early-onset cancer rates
BMJ Oncology article on global cancer incidence increasing by 79%
And its online supplementary information
July 2025 Economist article on how the world is winning the war on cancer
Saloni Dattani’s 2025 article on the decline in global cancer rates
Our World in Data’s graph on global cancer incidence over time
Their graph on smoking rates and lung cancer deaths
Their graph on stomach cancer death rates
New RCT on vaping and smoking cessation
A 90% drop in cervical cancer rates in England
The hepatitis B vaccine and a massive drop in liver cancer incidence in China
On H. pylorii, ulcers, and cancer
2000 JAMA article questioning the utility of the 5-year survival rate statistic
Tom’s BuzzFeed News article on oncology
RCT of herceptin on breast cancer survival
Study on rates of colorectal cancer
And the same, in relation to BMI
Credits
The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions.
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