Estimates of the cancer incidence and mortality in Europe in 2006

Annals of Oncology, Mar 2007

Background: Monitoring the evolution of the cancer burden in Europe is of great value. Estimates of the cancer burden in Europe have been published for 2004 and estimates are now being presented for cancer incidence and mortality in Europe for 2006. Methods: The most recent sources of cancer incidence and mortality data have been collected and projections have been carried out using short-term prediction methods to produce estimated rates for 2006. Additional estimation was required where national incidence data were not available, and the method involved the projection of the aggregations of cancer incidence and mortality data from representative cancer registries. The estimated 2006 rates were applied to the corresponding estimated country population to obtain the best estimates of the cancer incidence and mortality in Europe in 2006. Results: In 2006 in Europe, there were an estimated 3 191 600 cancer cases diagnosed (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers) and 1 703 000 deaths from cancer. The most common form of cancers was breast cancer (429 900 cases, 13.5% of all cancer cases), followed by colorectal cancers (412 900, 12.9%) and lung cancer (386 300, 12.1%). Lung cancer, with an estimated 334 800 deaths (19.7% of total), was the most common cause of death from cancer, followed by colorectal (207 400 deaths), breast (131 900) and stomach (118 200) cancers. Conclusions: The total number of new cases of cancer in Europe appears to have increased by 300 000 since 2004. With an estimated 3.2 million new cases (53% occurring in men, 47% in women) and 1.7 million deaths (56% in men, 44% in women) each year, cancer remains an important public health problem in Europe and the ageing of the European population will cause these numbers to continue to increase even if age-specific rates remain constant. Evidence-based public health measures exist to reduce the mortality of breast and colorectal cancer while the incidence of lung cancer, and several other forms of cancer, could be diminished by improved tobacco control.

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Estimates of the cancer incidence and mortality in Europe in 2006

J. Ferlay 0 P. Autier 0 M. Boniol 0 M. Heanue 0 M. Colombet 0 P. Boyle 0 0 International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 cours Albert Thomas , 69372 Lyon Cedex 08 , France Background: Monitoring the evolution of the cancer burden in Europe is of great value. Estimates of the cancer burden in Europe have been published for 2004 and estimates are now being presented for cancer incidence and mortality in Europe for 2006. Methods: The most recent sources of cancer incidence and mortality data have been collected and projections have been carried out using short-term prediction methods to produce estimated rates for 2006. Additional estimation was required where national incidence data were not available, and the method involved the projection of the aggregations of cancer incidence and mortality data from representative cancer registries. The estimated 2006 rates were applied to the corresponding estimated country population to obtain the best estimates of the cancer incidence and mortality in Europe in 2006. Results: In 2006 in Europe, there were an estimated 3 191 600 cancer cases diagnosed (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers) and 1 703 000 deaths from cancer. The most common form of cancers was breast cancer (429 900 cases, 13.5% of all cancer cases), followed by colorectal cancers (412 900, 12.9%) and lung cancer (386 300, 12.1%). Lung cancer, with an estimated 334 800 deaths (19.7% of total), was the most common cause of death from cancer, followed by colorectal (207 400 deaths), breast (131 900) and stomach (118 200) cancers. Conclusions: The total number of new cases of cancer in Europe appears to have increased by 300 000 since 2004. With an estimated 3.2 million new cases (53% occurring in men, 47% in women) and 1.7 million deaths (56% in men, 44% in women) each year, cancer remains an important public health problem in Europe and the ageing of the European population will cause these numbers to continue to increase even if age-specific rates remain constant. Evidence-based public health measures exist to reduce the mortality of breast and colorectal cancer while the incidence of lung cancer, and several other forms of cancer, could be diminished by improved tobacco control. - introduction Comprehensive estimates of the incidence and mortality from Cancer at a European level can be extracted from the GLOBOCAN 2002 project of International Agency for Research on Cancer [1], but there is still no way of monitoring the evolution of the cancer burden at the European level. In 1989, the European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR) was established within the framework of the Europe Against Cancer programme of the European Commission. One of the objectives was to provide regular information on the burden of cancer in the European Union (EU). Starting from 1995 [2], the ENCR published regular estimates of the incidence and prevalence of and mortality from cancer in the EU using the EUCAN software [3]. The ENCR activities have suffered an interruption so that the latest estimates available using the EUCAN system are of less use for todays cancer control and planning. In an attempt to monitor the evolution of cancer mortality in the EU, it was observed that the expected number of cancer deaths in the (15 Member State) EU fell by >9% from 1985 to 2000 [4]. During the lifetime of the Europe Against Cancer programme, favourable trends in cancer mortality were established for several common forms of cancer death in many countries [4] which appear likely to continue in the near future [5] although there were notable exceptions including lung cancer in women and most forms of cancer in Spain and Portugal [4]. In the year 2000, there were 1 122 000 deaths from cancer recorded in the 25-Member EU [5]. Even if the age-specific cancer mortality rates remain constant at year 2000 levels, there will be large increases in the absolute numbers of cancer cases and deaths into the foreseeable future. Although the total population will remain fairly constant, compared with 2000, by 2015 there will a 22% increase in the numbers in the population aged >65 and a 50% increase in the number of persons aged >80. Given the strong association between cancer risk and age, this will lead to a major increase in the cancer burden. Using population projections, if the age-specific death rates remain constant, the absolute numbers of cancer deaths in 2015 will increase to 1 405 000. Even if the forecast trends are taken into account, it is still expected that there will be an increase but this will only be lesser and result in an estimated figure of 1 249 000 cancer deaths [5]. Boyle and Ferlay [6] produced estimates of cancer incidence and mortality in Europe for the year 2004, using the most recent sources of cancer data available at that time, applied to population projections. This was the first of a series designated to provide regular and timely estimates of the cancer burden in Europe. The aim of this report is to provide more (...truncated)


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J Ferlay, P Autier, M Boniol, M Heanue, M Colombet, P Boyle. Estimates of the cancer incidence and mortality in Europe in 2006, Annals of Oncology, 2007, pp. 581-592, 18/3, DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdl498