Air pollution and lifestyle factors might be the reasons for the higher cancer rate in downtown Beijing compared to rural areas of the capital, experts told the Global Times Tuesday.
Beijing Institute for Cancer Research released a map of the incidence of cancer in 2010 in the capital, following a number of media requests.
The map shows that in 2010, new cancer cases in urban areas accounted for 67.7 percent of the total.
Lung cancer was the most common in 2010, accounting for 20.8 percent of all cancer patients, followed by breast and colon cancer.
Wang Ning, vice director of the institute, said urbanites' fast-paced and stressful lives are possible reasons for getting cancer.
"People in urban areas are more prone to lung and breast cancer. These are the major cancers in Beijing, that's why the cancer rate of urban areas is higher than that of rural areas," he said.
Wang Zemin, senior oncologist at Wangjing Hospital in Chaoyang district said that smoking is a major cause of lung cancer, as the number of Chinese smokers is increasing.
"But bad air, like the recent smog, is a contributing factor. The government should take responsibility for improving air quality," he told the Global Times.
Fengtai, Shijingshan and Chaoyang districts have the highest incidence of cancers in the population and Yanqing county has the lowest.
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