Thanks to the increasingly elderly population, the number of people who have received a cancer diagnosis in Europe is increasing, over 1 in 20, or as many as 23.7 million people (12.8 million women and 10.9 million men);
of these, 16% were under 55 years old at the time of diagnosis (3.74 million, of which 2.32 females and 1.42 males).
It emerged from work coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità and the IRCCS Foundation National Cancer Institute of Milan.
Between 2010 and 2020, the total number of cancer cases in Europe increased on average by 3.5% per year and by 41% overall (from 16.8 to 23.7 million), partly due to aging population.
The increase was more marked in men (+46%, from 7.47 million in 2010 to 10.9 million in 2020) than in women (+37%, from 9.34 to 12.8 million).
The study, published in Lancet Oncology, estimated the prevalence (the total number of cases, including those newly diagnosed, those under treatment, those already treated) in 2020 by analyzing data from the tumor registries of 29 European countries participating in the research program EUROCARE-6.
The research involved 61 cancer registries and was based on data from patients diagnosed starting in 1978 and followed until 2013, covering more than 19 million cancer cases and 32 tumor types analyzed.
There are countries with more cases, among these the highest values are found in Germany, Italy, Belgium and France (between 5.861 and 5.603 per 100,000 inhabitants).
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