breaking latest news – In 2022, in Italy, they are estimated 390,700 new cancer diagnoses (376,600 in 2020), 205,000 in men and 185,700 in women. In two years, the increase was 14,100 cases. The most frequently diagnosed cancer in 2022 was breast cancer (55,700 cases, +0.5% compared to 2020), followed by colorectal cancer (48,100, +1.5% in men and +1.6% in women). women), lung (43,900, +1.6% in men and +3.6% in women), prostate (40,500, +1.5%) and bladder (29,200, +1.7% in men and +1. 0% in women). These are some of the most significant data that emerged from the 2022 official census collected in the volume ‘The numbers of cancer in Italy 2022’ presented today in Rome.
The pandemic determined in 2020, as stated in the report, a decline in new diagnoses, linked in part to the interruption of cancer screening and the slowdown in diagnostic activities, but today we are witnessing a recovery in cancer cases as in other European countries. Which risks getting worse, if a barrier to incorrect lifestyles is not put in place: 33% of adults are overweight and 10% obese, 24% smoke and sedentary people have increased from 23% in 2008 to 31% in 2021.
On the other hand, the recovery of the screening programmes, which returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, in particular mammography reaches 46% coverage, 30% for colorectal cancer and 35% for cervical cancer. The reactivation of secondary prevention programs corresponds to an increase in the number of surgeries for colorectal and breast cancer, even at an early stage. And in cancer care, the anti-Covid vaccination plays a leading role. The risk of death, among people with a history of cancer and positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection, is 2-3 times higher among those who are not vaccinated than those who are vaccinated.
The official census ‘The numbers of cancer in Italy 2022’ presented today at a press conference in Rome, at the Ministry of Health, with the intervention of Minister Orazio Schillaci, now in its twelfth edition, describes the aspects relating to the diagnosis and therapy of neoplasms thanks to the work of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM), AIRTUM (Italian Association of Cancer Registries), AIOM Foundation, National Screening Observatory (ONS), PASSI (Progress of Healthcare Companies for Health in Italy), PASSI d’Argento and of the Italian Society of Pathological Anatomy and Diagnostic Cytology (SIAPeC-IAP).
“The increase to 390,700 in the absolute number of cases in 2022 raises questions for which there are currently no exhaustive answers – says Saverio Cinieri, President of AIOM -. These estimates for Italy for 2022 seem to indicate an increase in the absolute number of cancers, largely linked to the aging of the population, in apparent contrast with the decreasing trend of the incidence rates observed if, hypothetically, the age of the citizens is considered unchanged. These updated data invite more and more to strengthen actions to counter diagnostic delay and to promote secondary and above all primary prevention, acting on the control of risk factors starting from tobacco smoke, obesity, physical inactivity, abuse of alcohol and the need to promote vaccinations against infections known to cause cancer, such as HPV”
. “The volume constitutes a support of great value for the National Health Service, for the Ministry of Health and, undoubtedly, for cancer patients, to whom, as never before, it is necessary to offer the best prevention, treatment and assistance practices – he explains the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci, in the preface of the book -. As emerges from the analysis, following decades characterized by considerable progress, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a setback in the fight against cancer, causing, overall, a sharp slowdown in diagnostic activities in the oncological field in Italy, with a consequent increase in the advanced forms of the disease”.
“These delays will certainly affect the future incidence of neoplastic diseases – he adds – moreover, as regards behavioral risk factors, the data collected during the two-year period 2020-2021 mark a moment of acceleration mostly in a pejorative sense. This is a figure that cannot fail to cause concern if we consider that 40% of cases and 50% of cancer deaths can be avoided by intervening on preventable risk factors, especially on lifestyles”.
In fact, it is necessary to make citizens aware of the rules of primary prevention. “The PASSI data on lifestyles confirm citizens’ non-optimal adherence to a healthy lifestyle – says Maria Masocco, scientific director of the surveillance systems PASSI and PASSI d’Argento, coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità -. From the analysis of the historical series of behavioral risk factors, it emerges that there have not been great improvements in the last 15 years and, with the exception of the habit of smoking cigarettes which has continued its slow reduction for over thirty years, the consumption of alcohol at risk, a sedentary lifestyle and excess weight, on the whole, worsen or remain stable. Not only. In the midst of the pandemic, during the two-year period 2020-2021, these trends underwent changes mostly in a pejorative sense.
The impact of the pandemic on lifestyles is more visible in 2020 and seems, in part, to return in 2021. But efforts to raise citizens’ awareness of the importance of primary prevention must not stop”. As emerges from the survey involving 10 pathological anatomies for breast cancer and 12 for colorectal cancer, the number of breast cancers operated on in 2020 was 4.7% lower (-151 cases) compared to 2019, for then go back up in 2021 (+441 cases, +14.5%). In 2020, the number of colorectal cancers operated on was 10.8% lower (-238 cases) compared to 2019, while it increased by 233 cases (+11.9%) in 2021 compared to 2020.
“This edition contains the 2021 update of the survey contained in the last edition on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on breast and colorectal cancer surgery – highlights Guido Mazzoleni, Bolzano Healthcare Company, Bolzano Cancer Registry, SIAPeC-IAP contact person -. The updated results show, in general and for both tumors, an increase in cases operated on in 2021 compared to 2020 and an increase in the percentage of pTis tumors, i.e. in the initial stage, in 2021 compared to previous years, both in the breast and in the colorectal, confirming a resumption of cancer screening. Furthermore, an increase in both neoplasms of the N0 and N1a categories should be reported, a likely indicator of an earlier management of diagnosed tumors”.
Indeed, in 2021 a return to pre-pandemic data is observed also with regard to the coverage of secondary prevention programmes. For mammography, the Italian average value, which in 2020 stood at 30%, in 2021 returns in line (46.3%) with the coverage values (i.e. the proportion of women who have had mammography out of the total population having law) for the period 2018-2019. For colorectal screening (search for occult blood in the stool) the overall value was around 30%, to decrease to 17% in 2020 and go back up to 30% in 2021. Cervical screening had pre-pandemic values around 38-39 %, a drop to 23% in 2020 and a coverage level of 35% in 2021.
“These data give us a country with two, if not three speeds, but also with a remarkable ability to respond to emergencies – underlines Paola Mantellini, Director of the National Screening Observatory -. Most screening activities have not stopped during the pandemic, but Covid-19 has highlighted even more the fragility of these programs, already evident in the pre-pandemic era. The goal is not to make up for the delays induced by the health emergency, but to obtain optimal coverage levels which, in certain areas of the country and for some programmes, were not achieved even before the pandemic. Because the higher the levels of coverage, the greater our ability to diagnose the disease at an early stage. It is in fact important to point out that, within each single macro-area, there are Regions with greater recovery capacity and others in evident difficulty also in 2021 “.