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Lung and pancreatic cancers are experiencing “a worrying increase” among women, while among men, the most common cancers (prostate, lung, colorectal) are stabilizing or even decreasing, according to the 2024 panorama from the National Institute of Cancer. cancer published Thursday.
Under the effect first of the increase in the population and the aging of the French but also of risks linked to lifestyles, the incidence of cancers has increased significantly over the last 20 years and will exceed 433,000 new cases in 2023. estimated.
Cancers, responsible for more than 162,400 deaths in France each year, are the leading cause of death in men, the second in women after cardiovascular diseases.
The most common among men remain cancers of the prostate (59,885 cases), lung (33,438 cases) and colon-rectum (26,212 cases). In women, these are breast (61,214 cases), colorectal (21,370 cases) and lung (19,339 cases), according to the fourth edition of the cancer overview.
“If these latest estimates describe a rather encouraging situation for men, with a decrease in incidence or stability for these locations, two cancers show a worrying increase in the incidence rate in women over the period 2010-2023: cancer lung (+4.3% per year), pancreatic cancer (+2.1% per year)“, underlines the Inca.
Major factor in this evolution: tobacco consumption, “started in the 1970s/80s among women“, later than in men.
Over the years, cancer-related mortality has generally decreased thanks to earlier detection and advances in treatment.
This decline, however, appears more marked among men than among women, due to “earlier diagnoses and significant therapeutic advances among the most common cancers“among the first, according to the Inca.
In men, the deadliest cancers are lung, colorectal and prostate; in women, breast, lung and colorectal cancers.
Although survival for many cancers, particularly prostate, cutaneous melanoma and breast, has improved thanks to scientific progress, lung, pancreatic and liver cancers are the deadliest and have a very unfavorable prognosis. .
Prevention of avoidable cancer risk factors and screening are “two essential weapons in the fight against disease“, reaffirms the Inca, calling for them to progress.
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