Although the survival rate of 5-year-old cancer patients is increasing, more and more middle-aged women are dying of them, specialists said during a press conference at the Oncology Center, presenting the 2010 Malignant Tumors in Poland report.
The report, presented by Dr. Urszula Wojciechowska, Dr. Joanna Didkowska and prof. Witold Zatoński from the Warsaw Oncology Center deals with the occurrence of malignant neoplasms in Poland in 2010 (collecting and processing the data lasted two years). The data came from hospitals.
In 2010, there were over 140 thousand. new cases, while in 2009 – 138 thousand. Continuous growth
the number of cases results, inter alia, from the improvement of the quality and completeness of registration. In 2010, registration completeness reached 91%, matching the leading registers in Europe and the world. The percentage of histological confirmations also increased. However, not all cases are still recorded, so specialists estimate that in fact 155 could have fallen ill. people.
The number of deaths due to malignant neoplasms was 52. among men and 41 thousand among women. About 360 people live in Poland. people with cancer who have been diagnosed with cancer within the last five years.
Of the more than 100 types of cancer diagnosed each year in men, the five most common cancers are: lung (21%), prostate (13%), colon (13%), bladder (7%) and stomach (5%). .), the remaining neoplasms account for 41%. In women, these are cancers of the breast (23%), colon (10%), lung (9%), endometrium (7%), ovary (5%) and cervix (4%). , the others account for 42 percent.
The dominant cause of death in 2010 was lung cancer – in men it accounted for 31 percent. deaths; in women, the number of deaths due to this (15%) was greater than that caused by breast cancer (13%).
A positive phenomenon is the increase in the survival rate among patients diagnosed in 2003-2005 compared to 2000-2003. This is especially true among patients with prostate cancer (increase by 11 percentage points), leukemia (6 to 7 percentage points) and lymphoma (5 percentage points).
An unfavorable phenomenon observed in Poland is the excess mortality of young and middle-aged people (i.e. up to 65 years of age). In the case of women, more than 40 percent. deaths before the age of 65 are due to cancer – twice as many as deaths from cardiovascular disease.
As for malignant neoplasms in middle-aged men (45-64 years), they have remained stable as a cause of death in the last two decades. On the other hand, in the population of middle-aged women, the share of cancer as a cause of death is systematically growing.
“In Poland, nearly 2 women die every year from cervical cancer” – said Prof. Zatonski. According to the available data, in the case of people aged 20-44, the highest mortality rates due to this disease are recorded among people with vocational and primary education. More than a quarter (27%) aged 15 and over have never performed a Pap smear, which is one of the most effective diagnostic tools for detecting this cancer. (PAP)
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