iran cancer statistics in 2012 and projection of cancer incidence by 2035

Background: burden of cancer is increasing worldwide, especially in the low and middle income countries (lmics), including iran. several reports have been published about cancer statistics in iran, although they had shortcomings and provided variable results. we reported the most valid cancer statistics about iran. methods: we used globocan database and reported age standardize incidence rate (asr), mortality rate (asmr), and five-year prevalence of cancer in iran in 2012, and compared it with the results of 2008. we also provided the projection of cancer incidence for 2035 and estimated the life time cancer risks by age 75. results: asrs per 100,000 were 134.7 for men and 120.1 for women. the most common cancers were breast (asr 28.1), colorectal (asr 10.5), stomach (asr 9.7) cancers in women and stomach (asr 20.6), bladder (asr 13.2), prostate (asr 12.6) cancers in men. the asr was about 19% higher in 2012 (127.7/100,000) compared to 2008 (107.3/100,000). asr of all cancer sites will increase about 2.17 times by 2035. asmr was about 20% higher in men (90.4/100,000) than women (72.7/100,000) in 2012. the highest asmrs was observed for breast cancer (9.9/100,000) in women and stomach cancer (17.3/100,000) in men. five-year prevalence of all cancers was 79,194 for men and 90,521 for women in 2012. lifetime risk of occurrence of all types of cancer was 25%. in other words, 1 in 4 iranian people will be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 75 years. conclusion: stomach and breast cancers were the most common cancers in iranian men and women, respectively. iran and other lmics will experience major increase in the incidence and mortality of cancer in the next decades. they need to collocate further resources for cancer surveillance system and monitor the cancer statistics for evidence based cancer control program.