Cancer overtaking heart disease as leading cause of death

Cancer is overtaking heart disease as the leading cause of death, according to a study published recently in The Lancet medical journal.

While heart disease remains the overall leading cause globally, the study of nearly 156k participants, across 21 countries over 11 years, has identified a trend that as living conditions improve, cancer begins to overtake heart disease. In middle-income countries cancer approaches the same rate, while in high-income countries it represents more than double the deaths of heart disease. These two diseases alone account for nearly 80% of deaths in middle-aged adults.