Almost 300,000 people will receive a cancer diagnosis during 2023. These are data from the report Cancer figures in Spain 2023edited by the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), in collaboration with the Spanish Network of Cancer Registries (REDECAN), which, however, may not reflect reality, since this estimate does not yet include the possible effect of the covid-19 pandemic
We do not know the effects of Covid-19 well, Jaume Galceran, president of REDECAN, acknowledged in the future number of cases.
However, the president of Redecan indicated that «this stabilization could be due to the pandemicwhen there was a high mortality in older people with cancer and also to the decrease in smoking, especially among men»
In addition, despite the fact that the report confirms that there has been a stabilization of cancer cases in Spain, it is estimated that, just as an increase in the incidence of cancer is expected worldwide, in our country it is estimated that in 2040 the incidence reaches 341,000 cases.
During the last decades, they explain Galceran and Enriqueta Felippresident of SEOM, the absolute number of tumors diagnosed in Spain has increased for various reasons: population growth, aging (age is a fundamental risk factor in the development of cancer), exposure to risk factors (such as tobacco, alcohol, pollution, obesity or sedentary lifestyle) and early detection of some types of cancer such as colorectal, breast, cervical or prostate.
The most frequent
In terms of incidence, colon and rectal cancer, with 42,721 new cases, will be the most diagnosed. Behind, will be breast (35,001), lung (31,282), prostate (29,002) and bladder (21,694).
In this sense, Galceran pointed out that by sex, in men, as in 2022, prostate (29,002), colon and rectum (26,357), lung (22,266) and urinary bladder (17,731) will be the majority. And, in women, those of the breast (35,001) and those of the colon and rectum (16,364). In this last group, lung cancer remains the third most incident tumor since 2019 due to the increase in tobacco consumption in it since the 1970s.
“There is a clear decrease in lung and urinary bladder cancer in men, both related to tobacco. However, there has been a clear increase in lung cancer in women.”
Regarding cancer mortality worldwide, as with the incidence, an increase is expected in the coming years. Specifically, the figure of more than 16 million people in 2040 is considered.
In Spain, specifically, it will go from 112,000 cases in 2020 to more than 159,000 in 2040. It must be taken into account, as is the case with the incidence, that the 2020 figures are estimates made before the pandemic, so it is likely that they have errors in their calculation.
Therefore, these mortality assessments should be understood as the estimated cancer mortality that would have occurred in 2020 if there had been no pandemic.
Mortality
Cancer is the second cause of death in our country, behind diseases of the cardiovascular system. The most deadly cancers continue to be lung (18.2% of all cancer deaths), colorectal, liver, stomach and breast (6.9%).
Experts have long been concerned about the rise in lung cancer in womenwith an incidence rate in 2023 that almost triples that of 2001. Tobacco consumption continues to be higher in men than in women and therefore also the incidence of this type of cancer, but it is very likely that it will continue to increase in women in the next years.
According to the European Health Survey in Spain in 2020, 16.4% of women and 23.3% of men smoke daily.
Survival
The survival of cancer patients in Spain is similar to that of neighboring countries. It is estimated that it has doubled in the last 40 years. and it is likely that, albeit slowly, it will continue to increase in the coming years.
In this regard, the president of SEOM reflected on the current situation and assured that “we are improving survival, we are in an era of Precision Medicine, we have immunotherapy strategies and a multidisciplinary approach is key.”
“In recent years we are increasing the power of healing and greatly improving the quality of life of patients”
For his part, the secretary of the Board of Directors of SEOM, Xavier de Castroagreed that “in recent years we are increasing the power to cure and greatly improving the quality of life of patients, since we are working on the entire spectrum of care.”