Cancer fourth leading cause of death in Malaysia - DOSM 2023 report

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CANCER is the fourth leading cause of death in Malaysia, increasing from 10.5 per cent in 2021 to 12.6 per cent in 2022, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) 2023 report.

Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad today said that based on Malaysia's 2023 Health Facts, cancer is also a leading cause of death in private hospitals, accounting for 26.44 per cent and the fourth leading cause of death in government hospitals (9.29 per cent).

"This high mortality can also be linked with the detection of the disease at advanced stages, namely stages three and four, which account for over 60 per cent of all reported cancer cases, according to a report by the Malaysia National Cancer Registry report," he said in a statement.

According to the registry, 168,822 new cancer cases were reported over five years from 2017 to 2021.

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