Cancer tops heart disease as the No. 1 killer in these wealthy countries

Cancer has topped the heart of the world's worst killer in some of the world's richest countries, a new study found.

Sweden, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Poland, and Turkey, according to a published in the Lancet, a medical journal.

Cancer in high-income countries, the study found. And if trends continue, researchers argue, cancer could become the leading cause of death worldwide in a matter of decades.

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For the study, researchers analyzed data on diseases and death among 162,534 adults aged 35 to 70 from 21 countries across five continents from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) from 2005 to 2016.

The countries where the participants were divided into three sections – low-income, middle-income, and high-income. Low-income countries included: Tanzania, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe. Middle-income countries consisting of Iran, South Africa, Philippines, Colombia, China, Brazil, Malaysia, Turkey, Poland, Argentina, and Chile. And the richest countries included Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, and Canada.

One of the world's wealthiest countries, the United States was not involved in the study.

In middle and high-income countries, the causes of cardiovascular disease-related deaths.

"The number of deaths associated with cardiovascular disease has decreased, particularly in [high-income countries]Because of the implementation of preventive and therapeutic measures, "said the report.

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The same is not true for cancer-related deaths because there are less effective therapies for preventing and treating cancer, researchers said.

"The high rates of cardiovascular disease and related mortality in low-income countries are likely related to gaps in access to, or availability of, healthcare. This is shown by the use of preventive medications and less frequent hospitalization for cardiovascular disease. "Salim Yusuf, senior author of the study and Principal Investigator of PURE," said in a statement.

"As cardiovascular disease declines in many countries, cancer mortality is likely to become the leading cause of death in the future," he added.

Fox Business' Jeanette Settembre contributed to this report.