Abstract
Background
Individual country- and cancer site-specific studies suggest that the age-adjusted
incidence of many common cancers has increased in European populations over the past
two decades. To quantify the extent of these trends and the recent burden of cancer,
here we present a comprehensive overview of trends in population-based incidence of
the five common cancers across Europe derived from a new web-based portal of the European
cancer registries.
Methods
Data on incidence for cancers of the colon and rectum, prostate, breast, corpus uteri
and stomach diagnosed from 1988 to 2008 were obtained from the European Cancer Observatory
for cancer registries from 26 countries. Annual age-standardised incidence rates and
average annual percentage changes were calculated.
Results
Incidence of four common cancers in eastern and central European countries (prostate,
postmenopausal breast, corpus uteri and colorectum) started to approach levels in
northern and western Europe, where rates were already high in the past but levelled
off in some countries in recent years. Decreases in stomach cancer incidence were
seen in all countries.
Discussion
Increasing trends in incidence of the most common cancers, except stomach cancer,
are bad news to public health but can largely be explained by well-known changes in
society in the past decades. Thus, current and future efforts in primary cancer prevention
should not only remain focussed on the further reduction of smoking but engage in
the long-term efforts to retain healthy lifestyles, especially avoiding excess weight
through balanced diets and regular physical exercise.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 10, 2013
Identification
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© 2013 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
