Cancer in France nearly doubles while cancer deaths in France fall 25% since 1980
February 23, 2008
Reported cancer cases in France have nearly doubled over the 25 last years, but the risk of mortality was cut by 25% for the same period, according to a new French study published by the national Institute of medicine in France (INVS). Some 320, 000 new cases of cancer were listed in France 2005, 180,000 among men and 140,000 among women.
Since 1980, the cancer cases in France have increased by 93% in men and 84% in women. The three most commonly reported cancers for men in France were prostate cancer, lung cancer and the colo-rectal cancer. For women in France, lung cancer, colo-rectal cancer and breast cancer were the highest reported.
The INVS explains this rise by both population growth in France as well as the aging of the French population. However, demographics only tell half the story. Approximately half of the additional cases of cancer in France (52% at the man and 55% at the woman) were attributed to greater risk factors.
At the same time, mortality rates in France went down significantly, even though the number of cancer cases went up. With 146,000 deaths in 2005, only 13% more than 1980, implies a much lowered risk of death from cancer (-29% for men, -22% for women). Lung cancer in France remains the most deadly (26,624 deaths in 2005) and represented 75% of deaths by cancer among men. For women breast cancer represents half of the additional cases of reported cancers in France, whereas for French men, 70% of the additional cases were prostate-related.
The discrepancy between the near 100% rise of reported cancer cases in France and the 25% fall in mortality is being explained partly by increasing public awareness about various cancers in France, with people taking more responsibility for monitoring their health.
However, more is explained by fact that the most aggressive tumors, such as esophagus, stomach and upper digestive tract cancers fell sharply in French men, linked to the reduction in alcohol and tobacco consumption in France. “The French smoke less and drink less: prevention is working,” commented Domenica Maraninchi, president of the National Institute of Cancer in France.
But while mortality from lung cancer decreased in men in France, it is gaining ground “in a worrying way” among French women (+4.2% every year since 2000), as more French women continue to smoke or even take up smoking. Many women in France smoke as an aid to dieting and resist quitting for fear they will gain weight. Lung cancer has become the third the most common cancer among women in France, after breast and colo-rectal cancer, overtaking cancer of the uterus, which fell to fourth place.
At the same time, many cancers in France are being detected earlier, such as prostate and breast cancers. Prostate cancer accounted for 70% of the additional cases which have occurred since 1980 in men in France, but this is not because more men are contracting it; but that more cases are being discovered and reported with systematic and early testing in France. In 2005 prostate cancer was the most reported of all cancers in France, with 62,245 new cases and 9,202 deaths.
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