This disease is one of the leading causes of death in Mexico.
Highlights:
- Currently, lung cancer represents an important challenge for public health, being one of the leading causes of death from cancer in Mexico and the world.
- According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2020, there were more than two million cases of lung cancer in the world, causing an estimated 1.8 million deaths.
- A new proposal to consider is the implementation of the neutral packaging of tobacco products to eliminate the advertising actions of tobacco companies completely.
- It is necessary to invest more resources to have these treatments in Mexico, strengthen research, and promote the use of genomic technologies to give the correct treatment to the right patient.
Lung cancer was not identified as a disease until 1761, when Giovanni Battista Morgagni, an Italian anatomist, described in his book “De Sedibus et Causis Morborum per Anatomem Indagatis” multiple pathological findings, including a lung tumor. Currently, it represents an important challenge for public health, being one of the leading causes of death from cancer in Mexico and the world.
This cancer originates when cells begin to reproduce without control.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2020, there were more than two million cases of lung cancer in the world, causing an estimated 1.8 million deaths. Likewise, in Mexico, 7,811 new cases and 6,733 deaths from lung cancer were registered in the same year. In addition, it has high morbidity and mortality and enormous costs for health systems.
In its early stages, lung cancer is silent, complicating its detection and causing the diagnosis, in up to 65% of cases, to be in advanced stages when its mortality is higher. Furthermore, a patient can take months to receive a diagnosis and treatment due to the lack of coordination that exists in our health system and, indeed, due to the lack of specialists to care for the disease. Therefore, Mexico must strengthen its prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and financing strategies.
A patient can take months to receive a diagnosis and treatment due to the lack of coordination that exists in our health system and, indeed, due to the lack of specialists to care for the disease.
Recently, to incorporate scientific knowledge and the interests of patient groups in decision-making, the “Forum: Strategies for the prevention and universal care of lung cancer was held at the Social Security Commission of the Chamber of Deputies” in Mexico, where the existing problem was presented, and proposals were expressed. But what is the primary thing that needs to be done? First, achieving timely access to care, including early diagnosis, is a priority. Screening campaigns should be strengthened for the timely detection of lung cancer from the first level of care. Likewise, the systems for referring a patient to a second and third level of care, where the patient can receive treatment, must be streamlined. More is needed to have the equipment and infrastructure. Primary care providers must also be empowered through education to meet the needs of the disease with a multidisciplinary approach, as the United Lung Front for Cancer does, an organization that fights to transform the care of this disease, providing free education to doctors among many other actions.
About 85% of lung cancer cases are related to smoking. 14.9 million Mexicans between the ages of 12 and 65 are smokers, according to the National Survey of Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Consumption. Therefore, it is crucial to increase awareness of risk factors in the general population. In this sense, the strategies seem to be the same as those used in our country, such as increasing the IEPS (special tax on production and services) or creating more clinics to stop smoking. A new proposal to consider is the implementation of the neutral packaging of tobacco products to eliminate the advertising actions of tobacco companies completely. In 2012 Australia became the first WHO member country to introduce plain packaging into its legislation, finding that calls to the quit line have increased by 78% since its implementation.
Finally, although cancer cells have a set of genetic variants that make them never stop multiplying, never age, and never self-destruct, these make it possible to produce targeted treatments. This is how, in recent years, personalized and patient-centered therapies have been generated, which are precisely based on looking for specific biomarkers in cancer cells to choose a treatment to destroy them. This has come to prolong life expectancy, maintain quality of life and reduce the adverse effects of treatment. Thus, it is necessary to invest more resources to have these treatments in Mexico, strengthen research, and promote the use of genomic technologies to give the correct treatment to the right patient.
Lung cancer continues to be a severe public health problem. More efforts are needed from different actors: legislators, patients, health professionals, and researchers to mitigate it. Evidence must be considered to legislate on timely access to care, prevention, personalized treatment, and financing.
