While their mortality from malignant diseases will decrease by 6.45 percent between 2018 and (projected) 2023, this figure for women is only minus 3.72 percent. This is the result of a new study by Italian experts.
Carlo La Vecchia from the Department of Clinical Sciences at the University of Milan and his co-authors have now published their current study online in the “Annals of Oncology” of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) (doi.org/10.1016/j.annonc .2023.01.010). “We calculated that cancer mortality in the EU member states fell by around 6.5 percent in men and around 3.7 percent in women between 2023 and 2018. In the period between 1989 and 2023 around 5.9 million cancer deaths were avoided in the EU, based on the cancer mortality rates of 1989. The number of deaths from lung cancer in women in the EU seems to be (after strong increases a few years ago; ed. ) to stabilize but remains high in women over 60 years of age,” the Italian scientists wrote.
lifestyle and early detection
Due to a sometimes healthier lifestyle, improved early detection and advances in medicine in cancer therapy, the mortality rates from malignant diseases in the EU, especially in the rich countries of Europe, but also in the developed countries of other continents, have been falling for years. At the same time, the number of cancer cases is increasing as a result of demographic developments and increasing life expectancy.
The trend towards reduced cancer mortality can also be seen in the relatively short term when comparing 2018 and 2023 (model calculation): During this period, gastric cancer mortality in men fell by 12.66 percent, lung cancer by 10.24 percent and leukemia 12.61 percent. Prostate cancer mortality fell by 6.52 percent and colon cancer mortality by 5.56 percent.
Men have a significantly higher cancer mortality rate than women
Among women, the decline in mortality from stomach cancer was as much as 18.84 percent, while mortality from lung cancer among women in the EU increased by 1.15 percent between 2018 and 2023 (leukaemia: minus 12 .91 percent). Smoking continues to play the most important role here. While, according to the Italian experts, the decline in tobacco consumption is already having consequences for younger women as a result of the ever stricter restrictions in Europe, the high level of cigarette consumption in past decades can clearly still be seen among older women. Breast cancer mortality continues to decline (minus 4.63 percent). Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. In colon cancer, mortality in women fell by 8.7 percent.
However, men in the EU have a significantly higher cancer mortality rate than women: standardized for age, it is currently (2023) 123.75 per 100,000 and year. Among women, the mortality rate is 79.31 deaths from malignancies per 100,000. The scientists do not cite any data on Austria in their work. In addition to the figures for the EU-27, country-specific information is given on France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and – extra – Great Britain.
