Annals of Oncology 13:840-865, 2002
© 2002 European Society for Medical Oncology
Original Paper |
Cancer prevalence in European registry areas
1Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori, Milano, Italy; 2National Cancer Intelligence Centre, Office for National Statistics, London, UK; 3London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK; 4Finnish Cancer Registry, Helsinki, Finland; 5Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
Received 12 July 2001; revised 26 November 2001; accepted 13 December 2001.
Background
Information on cancer prevalence is of major importance for health planning and resource allocation. However, systematic information on cancer prevalence is largely unavailable.
Materials and methods
Thirty-eight population-based cancer registries from 17 European countries, participating in EUROPREVAL, provided data on almost 3 million cancer patients diagnosed from 1970 to 1992. Standardised data collection and validation procedures were used and the whole data set was analysed using proven methodology. The prevalence of stomach, colon, rectum, lung, breast, cervix uteri, corpus uteri and prostate cancer, as well as of melanoma of skin, Hodgkin’s disease, leukaemia and all malignant neoplasms combined, were estimated for the end of 1992.
Results
There were large differences between countries in the prevalence of all cancers combined; estimates ranged from 1170 per 100 000 in the Polish cancer registration areas to 3050 per 100 000 in southern Sweden. For most cancers, the Swedish, Swiss, German and Italian areas had high prevalence, and the Polish, Estonian, Slovakian and Slovenian areas had low prevalence. Of the total prevalent cases, 61% were women and 57% were 65 years of age or older. Cases diagnosed within 2 years of the reference date formed 22% of all prevalent cases. Breast cancer accounted for 34% of all prevalent cancers in females and colorectal cancer for 15% in males. Prevalence tended to be high where cancer incidence was high, but the prevalence was highest in countries where survival was also high. Prevalence was low where general mortality was high (correlation between general mortality and the prevalence of all cancers = –0.64) and high where gross domestic product was high (correlation = +0.79). Thus, the richer areas of Europe had higher prevalence, suggesting that prevalence will increase with economic development.
Conclusions
EUROPREVAL is the largest project on prevalence conducted to date. It has provided complete and accurate estimates of cancer prevalence in Europe, constituting essential information for cancer management. The expected increases in prevalence with economic development will require more resources; allocation to primary prevention should therefore be prioritised.
Key words: cancer, cancer registry, Europe, prevalence
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  C. Simonelli, M. A. Annunziata, E. Chimienti, M. Berretta, and U. Tirelli Cancer survivorship: a challenge for the European oncologists Ann. Onc., July 1, 2008; 19(7): 1216 - 1217. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. Decock, J.-R. Long, R. C. Laxton, X.-O. Shu, C. Hodgkinson, W. Hendrickx, E. G. Pearce, Y.-T. Gao, A. C. Pereira, R. Paridaens, et al. Association of Matrix Metalloproteinase-8 Gene Variation with Breast Cancer Prognosis Cancer Res., November 1, 2007; 67(21): 10214 - 10221. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. Cardinale, A. Colombo, M. T. Sandri, G. Lamantia, N. Colombo, M. Civelli, G. Martinelli, F. Veglia, C. Fiorentini, and C. M. Cipolla Prevention of High-Dose Chemotherapy-Induced Cardiotoxicity in High-Risk Patients by Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibition Circulation, December 5, 2006; 114(23): 2474 - 2481. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 O. Rena, E. Papalia, A. Oliaro, P. Filosso, E. Ruffini, G. Maggi, and C. Casadio Pulmonary metastases from epithelial tumours: late results of surgical treatment. Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg., August 1, 2006; 30(2): 217 - 222. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. J. Kerr and D. Khayat The Entente Cordiale--natural and necessary Ann. Onc., November 1, 2004; 15(11): 1581 - 1581. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C Gras, J P Daures, and B Tretarre Age and stage specific prevalence estimate of cancer from population based Cancer Registry using inhomogeneous Poisson process Statistical Methods in Medical Research, August 1, 2004; 13(4): 273 - 289. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Gatta, R. Capocaccia, F. Berrino, M. R. Ruzza, P. Contiero, and the EUROPREVAL Working Group Colon cancer prevalence and estimation of differing care needs of colon cancer patients Ann. Onc., July 1, 2004; 15(7): 1136 - 1142. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Monteiro, N. Arce, J. Bernardo, L. Eugenio, and M. J. Antunes Surgical resection of lung metastases from epithelial tumors Ann. Thorac. Surg., February 1, 2004; 77(2): 431 - 437. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
H. Ludwig European Society of Medical Oncology membership survey Ann. Onc., February 1, 2004; 15(2): 181 - 182. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
U. Gatzemeier, G. Groth, C. Butts, N. Van Zandwijk, F. Shepherd, A. Ardizzoni, C. Barton, P. Ghahramani, and V. Hirsh Randomized phase II trial of gemcitabine-cisplatin with or without trastuzumab in HER2-positive non-small-cell lung cancer Ann. Onc., January 1, 2004; 15(1): 19 - 27. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. Moller, H. Anderson, T. Aareleid, T. Hakulinen, H. Storm, L. Tryggvadottir, I. Corazziari, and E. Mugno Cancer prevalence in Northern Europe: the EUROPREVAL study Ann. Onc., June 1, 2003; 14(6): 946 - 957. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. Forman, D. Stockton, H. Moller, M. Quinn, P. Babb, R. De Angelis, and A. Micheli Cancer prevalence in the UK: results from the EUROPREVAL study Ann. Onc., April 1, 2003; 14(4): 648 - 654. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. M. Lutz, S. Francisci, E. Mugno, M. Usel, V. Pompe-Kirn, J.-W. Coebergh, and M. Bieslka-Lasota Cancer prevalence in Central Europe: the EUROPREVAL Study Ann. Onc., February 1, 2003; 14(2): 313 - 322. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. T. Penson, R. C. Benson, K. Parles, B. A. Chabner, and T. J. Lynch Jr. Virtual Connections: Internet Health Care Oncologist, December 1, 2002; 7(6): 555 - 568. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Verdecchia, A. Micheli, M. Colonna, V. Moreno, M. I. Izarzugaza, and E. Paci A comparative analysis of cancer prevalence in cancer registry areas of France, Italy and Spain Ann. Onc., July 1, 2002; 13(7): 1128 - 1139. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Giles How important are estimates of cancer prevalence? Ann. Onc., June 1, 2002; 13(6): 815 - 816. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. Capocaccia, M. Colonna, I. Corazziari, R. De Angelis, S. Francisci, A. Micheli, and E. Mugno Measuring cancer prevalence in Europe: the EUROPREVAL Project Ann. Onc., June 1, 2002; 13(6): 831 - 839. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|