Cancer in Europe Declining November 30, 2009
New figures on deaths from cancer in Europe show a steady decline in mortality between the periods 1990-1994 and 2000-2004. Deaths from all cancers in the European Union between these two periods fell by 9% in men and 8% in women, with a large drop among the middle-aged population.
In a study published in the Annals of Oncology, researchers found that there was an average 185.2 deaths per 100,000 of the population/yr in men between 1990-1994 in 27 member states of the EU, but this fell to 168 deaths per 100,000 between 2000-2004. For women, the number of deaths fell from 104.8 to 96.9 per 100,000.
The researchers, led by Carlo La Vecchia, head of the Dept. of Epidemiology at the Mario Negri Institute and Fabio Levi, Head of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the Swiss Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, say that the persistent downward trend is driven largely by changes in tobacco consumption, with large falls in lung and other tobacco-related cancers in men.
A steady decline in gastric cancers and, recently, declines in colorectal cancer have also contributed to the overall drop in mortality rates. However, the picture is variable across Europe and between sexes. For instance, where alcohol or tobacco consumption, or a combination of the two, has increased (particularly in women), there has been a rise in deaths from cancers known to have these as risk factors, such as lung, mouth, pharynx and oesophagus.
Cristina Bosetti, head of the Unit of Cancer Epidemiology at the Mario Negri Dept. of Epidemiology, said: "The key message of our paper is that the favorable trends in cancer mortality in Europe have continued over the most recent years. This is due mainly to the falls in lung and other tobacco-related cancers in men, the persistent decline in gastric cancer, but also appreciable falls in colorectal cancer. Screening and early diagnosis have contributed to the decline in cervical and breast cancer, although the fall in breast cancer mortality is mainly due to improved treatment. Therapeutic advancements have also played a role in the reduced mortality from testicular cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma and leukaemias, although the declines have been delayed and are smaller in Eastern Europe."
In their paper, the authors say: "These advancements notwithstanding, in the early 2000s, there remains an approximately twofold difference in cancer mortality across European countries.
For men, the highest mortality rates in 2000-2004 were in Hungary (255.2/100,000), the Czech Republic (215.9/100,000) and Poland (209.8/100,000), and the lowest ones in Sweden (125.8/100,000), Finland (130.9/100,000) and Switzerland (136.9/100,000).
For women, the highest mortality rates were in Denmark (141/100,000), Hungary (131.5/100,000) and Scotland (123.1/100,000), and the lowest ones in Spain (78.9/100,000), Greece (79.7/100,000) and Portugal (80.9/100,000) again reflecting the different spread of cigarette smoking among men and women across various European countries in the past.
Thus, further reduction of tobacco smoking remains the key priority for cancer control in Europe. Interventions in alcohol drinking, aspects of nutrition, including overweight and obesity, and more widespread adoption of screening, early diagnosis and therapeutic advancements for treatable cancers would contribute to further reduce European cancer burden in the near future."
Their report contains mortality rates by country and by cancer.
Source: European Society for Medical Oncology
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