The most common cancers in France

The most common cancers in France

Cancer affects 400,000 new people each year in France, but with strong disparities between men and women. Prostate, breast, lung, colon… which are the most frequent and the most deadly?

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Nearly 400,000 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2017, including 185,000 in women and nearly 215,000 in men, according to the National Cancer Institute. There are major disparities between the two sexes: the breast cancer is most common in women (nearly 59,000 new cases per year, must 31.8%), and in men, it is the Prostate cancer which is the most common (48,000 new cases, or 22.6%), followed by lung cancer and colorectal cancer. The five-year survival rate varies greatly depending on the type of cancer: it is 93% for prostate cancer and 91% for melanoma cutaneousbut does not exceed 9% for the pancreas and 17% for the lung.

The deadliest cancers

Cancer is the first cause of death in France, with 150,000 deaths in 2014, including 84,000 in men and 66,000 in women. Thanks to advances in therapy, cancer-related mortality is, however, steadily declining. It has decreased on average by 2.9% in men and by 1.4% on average in women since 2005. lung cancer remains the deadliest in men (20,815 deaths in 2017) ahead of colorectal cancer (9,294 deaths) and prostate cancer (8,207 deaths). It’s the breast cancer which is the most deadly in women, but women are increasingly affected by lung cancer, which could supplant it as the leading cause of death from cancer.

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