The well-known doctor gives the alarm: If no one smoked we could prevent...

Tumor diseases hold the third place in Albania as a cause of loss of life.

But during the last year, deaths due to tumors decreased by 5.7%. An influencing factor for this reduction is also the awareness of check-ups at the doctor.

"Even with the statistics produced today by INSTAT, it can confirm that, at least for cancers, there is a stabilization of their mortality trends and if we were to see it as a proportion, there is a decrease", said Alban Ylli.

During 2022, out of almost 24,000 deaths, 3,233 of them were caused by tumors, or in other words, 13.5% of the total number of deaths. Lung cancer is the most common and is taking more lives.

"Lung cancer remains the main cancer as in most countries of the world. Fortunately, for that too, we see some signs of not only stabilization but also a decrease in mortality, especially that standardized according to age. The second most important cancer remains breast cancer. Colon cancer seems to be becoming the third most important cancer in Albania from the point of view of new cases", he further added.

According to experts, smoking is one of the main factors that leads to the appearance of tumors. But not only that, coupled with alcohol abuse, malnutrition and lack of physical activities, they become the influencers of health deterioration.

"For lung cancer but also for most other cancers through smoking control, we can do more than an army of specialized doctors and drugs or technology could do. It is the main cause of lung cancer. We could prevent about 70% of lung cancers in Albania if nobody smoked. But it remains a cause or more precisely a risk factor for the vast majority of other cases", declared Alban Ylli.

Half of the loss of life caused by tumors belong to the age group of 65-79 years while the highest percentage of deaths is in men.

Deaths in Albania during 2022: 23,998 deaths in total.

Deaths caused by the disease group "Tumors": 3,233 deaths or 13.5%.

Deaths from tumors by gender: men-15.7% and women-10.8%.