Global burden of respiratory system cancers in 2022 and 2050: incidence and mortality estimates from GLOBOCAN

Respiratory system cancers, primarily encompassing lung cancer, tracheal cancer, bronchial cancer, and laryngeal cancer, severely jeopardize patients’ lives. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the global burden of respiratory system cancers in 2022 using the GLOBOCAN 2022 database, to inform global prevention strategies. This study extracted data of respiratory system cancers from GLOBOCAN 2022, stratified into two subsets: laryngeal cancer (C32) and tracheal, bronchial, and lung cancers (C33, C34). It analyzed the incidence, mortality, and age-standardized rates (ASR) of both subsets across world regions, HDI levels, genders, and age groups, and projected their disease burden from 2022 to 2050. For tracheal, bronchial, and lung cancers (C33, C34), Hungary had the highest age-standardized incidence rates (ASIR) and age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR). For laryngeal cancer alone (C32), India had the highest global ASIR and ASMR. Very high HDI regions had the highest ASR for the combined cancers. Males had higher incidence and mortality than females across regions and HDI strata for both subsets. Incidence and mortality rose markedly after age 40, with faster growth in males. Projection results indicated that by 2050, the male incidence and mortality rates of tracheal, bronchial, and lung cancers would increase by 87.97% and 94.75%, respectively. For laryngeal cancer, the number of male incident cases and male deaths was expected to grow by 72.53% and 81.33%, respectively. This study, grounded in the GLOBOCAN 2022 database, elucidated the respiratory system cancers (lung cancer, tracheal cancer, bronchial cancer, and laryngeal cancer) global burden. It thereby furnished theoretical references for subsequent preventive measures.