Lung cancer has become the number one cause of death in Guangzhou as the city battles its worsening air quality, according to figures released by the Guangzhou Disease Control Center’s tumor monitoring department.

In a report made by Nandu on April 15, breast cancer is the deadliest type of cancer among women, but lung cancer is revealed as the leading cause of deaths for both men and women. Out of the 100,000 cancer patients, 47,000 suffer from lung cancer, the figures showed.

And the situation is not looking any better in the province as a whole. The incidence of cancer in Guangdong is 23.5 percent higher than the national level, while the number of deaths caused by cancer in the province is 7.5 percent higher than the national level, according to the province’s disease control center. To put the figure into perspective, the center said among every five people who die in Guangdong, one is caused by cancer.

The situation in the city of Guangzhou is even grimmer as one in four deaths in the city is attributed to cancer. Every year, the city adds 22,000 new cancer patients, the report said. The city has a population of 8 million people.

The report, however, did not say the causes behind the city’s increasing lung cancer patients. But China’s ex-health minister Chen Zhu had previously stated the country’s smog is responsible for 350,000 premature deaths each year, the South China Morning Post reported.

Home page image: residents in Zhengzhou wear oxygen masks for fresh air.
Photo credit: China News