Global Burden of Renal Cancer Expected to Double by 2050

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 8, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Incidence and mortality from renal cancer (RC) may double by 2050, according to a study published in the October issue of European Urology.

Alessandro Larcher, M.D., from Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, and colleagues examined the global epidemiology of RC, including its incidence, mortality, and risk factors. The analysis included data from the Global Cancer Observatory of the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

The researchers report that globally, 434,840 individual cases and 155,953 individual deaths were identified in 2022. There was variance in incidence and mortality by geographic area and sex. By 2050, 745,791 new cases (+72 percent) and 304,861 new deaths (+96 percent) are expected. The five-year overall survival rate varied from 40 to 75 percent across geographic areas. Pathogenic variants predisposed individuals to RC (alleles include VHL, ELOC, TSC1/2, MET, FLCN, PRDM10, SDHA/B/C/D, MiTF, CDC73, FH, PTEN, BAP1, SMARCB1, CHEK2, MUTYH, BRCA2, ATM, and APC). Sex, geography, ethnicity/ancestry, and family history were nonmodifiable risk factors. Modifiable risk factors included obesity, insulin resistance/diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, smoking, environmental exposure, and lack of physical exercise.

“Kidney cancer is a growing global health problem, and both clinicians and policymakers need to prepare for this steep rise,” senior author Alexander Kutikov, M.D., from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, said in a statement.

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