In about thirty years, the number of new cancer cases has almost doubled in metropolitan France, a more marked increase among women due in particular to the increase in smoking.
By 2023, the number of new cancers is estimated at 433,136 cases, indicates this work by Public Health France, the National Cancer Institute (Inca), the Francim network of cancer registries and the biostatistics-bioinformatics service of the Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL).
“Between 1990 and 2023, the number of new cancer cases doubled, with an increase of 98% in cancers in men and 104% in women, all locations combined,” according to this study published in the weekly epidemiological bulletin of SpF.
The median age at diagnosis is 70 years in men and 68 years in women, specifies this work on the 19 most common cancers and only invasive tumors.
The increase in the number of cancers is largely related to the demographic evolution of France (growth and aging of the population), but also to an increase in risk related to behavior and lifestyles, the researchers note.
First cause of death in men
In France, cancer is the first cause of death in men, the second in women after cardiovascular diseases. Cancers of the prostate, breast, lung and colon-rectum continue to be the most frequent there, as in most European countries.
If in men the most frequent cancers have seen their incidence decrease or stabilize between 1990 and 2023, the opposite occurs in women.
Specifically, in women, the incidence of cancers induced in part by tobacco (lip-mouth-pharynx, esophagus or lung) “increases considerably”, while in men it decreases, this study points out.
The estimates, from cancer registries, are based in part on projections for the period 2019-2023 where data was not yet available. Therefore, the impact of the crisis related to the Covid pandemic on the incidence of cancers is not included in the study.
Source: BFM TV
