Annals of Oncology Advance Access originally published online on December 12, 2006
Annals of Oncology 2007 18(3):593-595; doi:10.1093/annonc/mdl437
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© 2006 European Society for Medical Oncology
epidemiology |
Continuing declines in cancer mortality in the European Union
1 Cancer Epidemiology Unit and Cancer Registries of Vaud and Neuchâtel, Institut universitaire de médecine sociale et préventive, CHUV-Falaises 1, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland
2 Laboratory of Epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche ‘Mario Negri’, Via Eritrea 62, 20157
3 Istituto di Statistica Medica e Biometria, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Venezian 1, 20133 Milano, Italy
* Correspondence to: Prof F. Levi. Registres Vaudois des Tumeurs Institut Universitaire de Medecine - Sociale et Preventive CHUV-Falaises 1, Casier 15 Lausanne 1011, Switzerland. Tel: +41-21-3147311; Fax: +41-21-323-03-03; E-mail: fabio.levi{at}chuv.ch
Background: From 1988 to 1997 age-standardised total cancer mortality rates in the European Union (EU) fell by around 9% in both sexes. Available cancer mortality data in Europe up to 2002 allow a first check of the forecast of further declines in cancer mortality.
Patients and methods: We considered trends in age-standardised mortality from major cancer sites in the EU during the period 1980–2002.
Results: For men, total cancer mortality, after a peak of 191.1/100 000 in 1987 declined to 177.8 in 1997 (–7%), and to 166.5 in 2002. Corresponding figures for females were 107.9/100 000, 100.5 and 95.2, corresponding to falls of 7% from 1987 to 1997, and to 5% from 1997 to 2002. Over the last 5 years, lung cancer declined by 1.9% per year in men, to reach 44.4/100 000, but increased by 1.7% in women, to reach 11.4. In 2002, for the first year, lung cancer mortality in women was higher than that for intestinal cancer (11.1/100 000), and lung cancer became the second site of cancer deaths in women after breast (17.9/100 000). From 1997 to 2002, appreciable declines were observed in mortality from intestinal cancer in men (–1.6% per year, to reach 18.8/100 000), and in women (–2.5%), as well as for breast (–1.7% per year) and prostate cancer (–1.4%).
Conclusions: Despite the persisting rises in female lung cancer, the recent trends in cancer mortality in the EU are encouraging and indicate that an 11% reduction in total cancer mortality from 2000 to 2015 is realistic and possible.
Key words: cancer, Europe, mortality, time trends
Received for publication October 11, 2006. Accepted for publication October 30, 2006.
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