January 18, 2023 at 12:52 p.m
Care
REGIO (ANP) The Comprehensive Cancer Center of the Netherlands (IKNL) has mapped out the 24 most common cancer types in the Netherlands in a so-called cancer atlas. With this, the cancer center wants to gain insight into how often certain types of cancer occur somewhere, based on where people lived when they were diagnosed. The atlas can indicate per region whether the number of diagnoses of a certain type of cancer is higher, lower or equal to the Dutch average.
The atlas shows, for example, that in many areas along the coast there is more skin cancer than average. This is probably because people on the coast are exposed to the sun for longer and because there is a higher sun power there, according to the IKNL. But also in Amersfoort Noord, Leusden Nijkerk and Woudenberg, this diagnosis (melanoma) is diagnosed 21 to 40 percent more often than can be expected on the basis of the national average.
In the region in and around Amersfoort, however, gastric cancer is diagnosed less often than the average in the country.
There is still a long way to go to understand the reasons for all the geographical differences
The cancer center also sees many regional differences in the number of lung cancer diagnoses. In almost all metropolitan areas, the frequency of lung cancer also differs per district. The center of Amersfoort, for example, scores 7 percent higher than the national average, while ‘north’ is 14 percent lower (Leusden -28 percent, Woudenberg -14 and Nijkerk -9). The frequency of lung cancer mainly depends on whether and how many people have smoked in the past.
SURVEY PARTICIPATION Regional differences can also be seen in how often cervical cancer occurs. The IKNL declares that whether or not to participate in the population screening for cervical cancer. For all cancers together, there is hardly any variation between areas in the Netherlands, according to the cancer center.
“There is still a long way to go to understand the reasons for all the geographical differences. But the atlas is designed to provide insight to accelerate research, especially in the areas that need it most. In addition, the insights from the cancer atlas, for example in the field of lung cancer, skin cancer and cervical cancer, allow regional prevention policy measures to be taken to reduce the impact of cancer,” says Valery Lemmens, researcher and director of the IKNL.
‘TARGETED PREVENTION’ KWF says it is happy with the atlas. “The cancer atlas provides researchers, politicians and citizens with insights that were not previously available. It is a great way to achieve a more targeted and local approach to cancer prevention. That is why we are making an amount of 6 million available for GGDs to come up with local or regional plans,” says KWF director Carla van Gils.