With 74,500 new cases worldwide in 2020, testicular cancer ranks as the 20th leading cancer type, but is the most common cancer in young men of European ancestry. While testicular cancer incidence has been rising in many populations, mortality trends, at least those in high-income settings, have been in decline since the 1970s following the introduction of platinum-based chemotherapy. To examine current incidence and mortality patterns, we extracted the new cases of, and deaths from cancers of the testis from the GLOBOCAN 2020 database. In 2020, testicular cancer was the most common cancer in men aged 15-44 in 62 countries worldwide. Incidence rates were highest in West-, North- and South- Europe and Oceania (age-standardised rate, ASR ≥7/100,000), followed by North America (5.6/100,000, and lowest (< 2/100,000) in Asia and Africa. The mortality rates were highest in Central and South America (0.84 and 0.54 per 100,000 respectively), followed by Eastern and Southern Europe, and Western and Southern Africa. The lowest mortality rates were in Northern Europe, Northern Africa, and Eastern Asia (0.16, 0.14, 0.9 per 100,000 respectively). At the country level, incidence rates varied over 100-fold, from 10/100,000 in Norway, Slovenia, Denmark and Germany to ≤0.10/100,000 in Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Lesotho. Mortality rates were highest in Fiji, Argentina and Mexico. Our results indicate a higher mortality burden in countries undergoing economic transitions and reinforce the need for more equitable access to testicular cancer diagnosis and treatment globally. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
International journal of cancer. 2022 Mar 12 [Epub ahead of print]
Ariana Znaor, Niels Erik Skakkebaek, Ewa Rajpert-De Meyts, Tomislav Kuliš, Mathieu Laversanne, Jason Gurney, Diana Sarfati, Katherine A McGlynn, Freddie Bray
Section of Cancer Surveillance, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France., Department of Growth & Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital (Ringshospitalet), Copenhagen, Denmark., Department of Urology, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia., Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand., Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, US.