The Increasing of The Cancer cases in Europe

The number of new cancer cases discovered in Europe has increased by 300,000 in the past two years, a report has found.
It is estimated that in 2006 there were 3.2 million new cases of cancer, up from 2.9 million in 2004.

And according to the figures, around 1.7 million Europeans died from the disease last year.
The report was compiled by researchers at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Lead researcher Professor Peter Boyle warned that despite better prevention and treatments, Europe faced a major increase in the cancer burden because of the ageing population.

He said urgent action was needed now to tackle cancer, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, through measures such as tobacco control and more widespread screening for breast and colorectal cancer.

The 25 EU countries accounted for nearly 2.3 million of the new cases and over 1 million cancer deaths.
The figures showed that lung cancer remained the biggest cancer killer in Europe, with an estimated 334,800 deaths in 2006.

Lung cancer is followed by colorectal cancer (207,400 deaths), breast cancer (131,900 deaths) and stomach cancer (118,200 deaths).
Prof Boyle said: "Lung cancer retains its status as the leading cause of cancer death in Europe in 2006.

"The overwhelming majority of lung cancer is caused by tobacco smoking, and tobacco control is clearly a number one priority in Europe, not only aimed at men, particularly the male populations of Central and Eastern Europe, but increasingly targeted towards women, especially in Northern Europe."

The figures also revealed that breast cancer has overtaken lung cancer as the commonest cancer to be diagnosed overall, with 429,900 new cases in 2006.
It was followed by colorectal cancer (412,900 cases) and lung cancer (386,300 cases).
Prof Boyle said the rise in the number of breast cancer cases could be attributed partially to the introduction of organised mammography screening programmes, which meant that more cancers were detected, and at an earlier stage.

In women, after breast cancer, colorectal cancer and cancer of the uterus were the most commonly diagnosed cancers.
In men, prostate cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer, followed by lung cancer and colorectal cancer.

source:www.999today.com