Dismay and disparities - Economic Development and Cancer Incidence

Abstract

Understanding the distribution and determinants of cancerous diseases in specified populations attempts to prevent and control cancer-related public health issues. These insights are used to inform prevention and cancer control public health strategies Quantifying cancer occurrences in a given population is therefore an essential step in epidemiological studies. During economic growth, however, every society undergoes several substantial structural changes in healthcare demand and supply. In this paper, we discuss the relationship between economic growth and cancer incidences. The purposes of the paper are to describe and measure the influence of an increasing per capita income on the overall incidence of cancer. By using worldwide cross-sectional data from 162 countries, regression results with crude and age-standardised rates, allows us to measure the elasticity of cancer incidences with respect to per capita income and to decompose the elasticity coefficient into two components: age-effect and lifestyle-effect. Understanding how cancer incidence evolves during economic growth is increasingly useful for forecasting the economic impact of cancerous diseases and for governing the process of resource allocation in planning health services. In this article we sketch a macroeconomic theory of cancer incidence. We introduce some basic hypotheses about how demand-side economic structural changes may affect the evolution of cancer incidence. Finally, we try to develop a basic framework in order to explain how economic structural changes on the demand-side can affect the evolution of cancer incidence.