The number of new cancer diagnoses in France doubled between 1990 and 2023, according to a new statistical analysis, which found that while cancer remains the leading cause of death in men, the rate in women is on the rise, in particular those cancers linked to smoking.
Over 433,000 cancer diagnoses are expected in 2023, nearly double the 216,000 cases found in 1990, according to a study published Tuesday by the French public health authority, Santé publique France and other organisations, including the National cancer institute (Inca).
The authors of the study attribute the increase in cases to changing demographics: with an increased population comes more diagnoses, but also people are living longer and are exposed to more risks – consuming more alcohol and tobacco, and living more sedentary lives.
Cancer on the rise in women
Cancer remains the leading cause of death in men in France, but cases in women are increasing faster, with the median age of diagnosis being 68 years old (compared to 70 years old for men).
In the period covered the study, cancer rates in men started diminishing in 2005 before stabilizing in 2012, Lionel Lafay, head of Inca’s observation and documentation department, wrote in the study, while cancer rates in women have increased continuously since 1990.
He points to a “worrying increase” in cases of lung cancer in women, up 4.3 percent a year, compared to a decrease of 0.2 percent a year in men.
The effects of women taking up smoking in previous generations is now showing up in increased rates of tobacco-linked cancers - of the lips, mouth, esophagus and lungs.
As in most European countries, the most frequently-diagnosed types of cancer in women in France are breast, colorectal and lung cancer, and for men it is prostate lung and colorectal cancer.
Push for prevention
Published every five years, the ‘Panorama on cancers in France’ focuses on the 19 most-frequently diagnosed cancers with tumours, and do not include skin cancer and other melanomas.
Because it takes a few years to consolidate statistics, the study looks at projected figures from 2018 to 2023, which means the impact of the Covid epidemic on cancer diagnoses has not been evaluated.
The numbers should push everyone to look at prevention, said Inca’s president, Norbert Ifrah, and director general, Theirry Breton.
“We can never say it enough: nearly half of cancers could be avoided thanks to changing our behaviours and ways of life (tobacco, alcohol, unbalanced eating, sedentary lifestyle, exposure to UV rays),” they wrote.
The study is “a call to action for all to refuse fatality. Because to avoid cancer tomorrow, we need to act today”.
(with newswires)
