According to the 2017 Cancer Figures in Spain report , the incidence of this disease –or group of diseases– has increased more than expected . In 2015, there were 247,771 new cases (148,827 in men and 98,944 in women), which exceeds by more than a thousand the estimates made by the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) for the year 2020. From these data it is deduced that half of men and one-third of women will develop cancer in their lifetime.
Regardless of the sexes, this increase must be attributed to several reasons: the aging of the population, early detection techniques, and advances in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disorders . In addition, the SEOM affects the influence of habits on the appearance of tumors: ” a third of cancer mortality is due to preventable causes ,” said Miguel Martín, president of the SEOM and head of the Hospital Oncology Service Gregorio Marañón University of Madrid.
These factors include the “usual suspects”: smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle and obesity . And precisely, the fact that men are more careless when avoiding these risk behaviors explains why they suffer more from the disease.
Regarding the most diagnosed types of cancer, adding men and women, the ranking is led by colorectal tumors (41,000 cases per year), followed by prostate (33,000), lung (28,000), breast (27,000) and bladder (21,000). ) . In the world the order changes: the most common were those of the lung, breast, colorectal and prostate.
Mortality also varies with respect to incidence: of the 106,039 cancer deaths registered in Spain in 2014, 21,220 were due to a lung tumor; 15,449, for colorectal cancer; 6,278 for the pancreas; 6,213, for the breast; and 5,855, for the prostate.
Photo: presentation of the report The Figures of Cancer in Spain 2017
