Background
Melanoma is a significant health problem in Caucasian populations. The most recently available data from cancer registries often have a delay of several months up to a few years and they ...are generally not easily accessible.
Objectives
To assess recent age‐ and sex‐specific trends in melanoma incidence and make predictions for 2010 and 2015.
Methods
A retrospective registry‐based analysis was performed with data from 29 European cancer registries. Most of them had data available from 1990 up to 2006/7. World‐standardized incidence rates (WSR) and the estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) were computed. Predictions were based on linear projection models.
Results
Overall the incidence of melanoma is rapidly rising and will continue to do so. The incidence among women in Europe was generally higher than in men. The highest incidence rates were seen for Northern and north‐western countries like the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands. The lowest incidence rates were observed in Portugal and Spain. The incidence overall remained stable in Norway, where, amongst young (25–49 years) Norwegian males rates significantly decreased (EAPC −2.8, 95% CI −3.6; −2.0). Despite a low melanoma incidence among persons above the age of 70, this age group experienced the greatest increase in risk during the study period.
Conclusions
Incidence rates of melanoma are expected to continue rising. These trends are worrying in terms of disease burden, particularly in eastern European countries.
Abstract Background Quality assurance of cancer care is of utmost importance to detect and avoid under and over treatment. Most cancer data are collected by different procedures in different ...countries, and are poorly comparable at an international level. EURECCA, acronym for European Registration of Cancer Care, is a platform aiming to harmonize cancer data collection and improve cancer care by feedback. After the prior launch of the projects on colorectal, breast and upper GI cancer, EURECCA's newest project is collecting data on pancreatic cancer in several European countries. Methods National cancer registries, as well as specific pancreatic cancer audits/registries, were invited to participate in EURECCA Pancreas. Participating countries were requested to share an overview of their collected data items. Of the received datasets, a shared items list was made which creates insight in similarities between different national registries and will enable data comparison on a larger scale. Additionally, first data was requested from the participating countries. Results Over 24 countries have been approached and 11 confirmed participation: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and United Kingdom. The number of collected data items varied between 16 and 285. This led to a shared items list of 25 variables divided into five categories: patient characteristics, preoperative diagnostics, treatment, staging and survival. Eight countries shared their first data. Conclusions A list of 25 shared items on pancreatic cancer coming from eleven participating registries was created, providing a basis for future prospective data collection in pancreatic cancer treatment internationally.
Summary Background Cancer is a major cause of death in children worldwide, and the recorded incidence tends to increase with time. Internationally comparable data on childhood cancer incidence in the ...past two decades are scarce. This study aimed to provide internationally comparable local data on the incidence of childhood cancer to promote research of causes and implementation of childhood cancer control. Methods This population-based registry study, devised by the International Agency for Research on Cancer in collaboration with the International Association of Cancer Registries, collected data on all malignancies and non-malignant neoplasms of the CNS diagnosed before age 20 years in populations covered by high-quality cancer registries with complete data for 2001–10. Incidence rates per million person-years for the 0–14 years and 0–19 years age groups were age-adjusted using the world standard population to provide age-standardised incidence rates (WSRs), using the age-specific incidence rates (ASR) for individual age groups (0–4 years, 5–9 years, 10–14 years, and 15–19 years). All rates were reported for 19 geographical areas or ethnicities by sex, age group, and cancer type. The regional WSRs for children aged 0–14 years were compared with comparable data obtained in the 1980s. Findings Of 532 invited cancer registries, 153 registries from 62 countries, departments, and territories met quality standards, and contributed data for the entire decade of 2001–10. 385 509 incident cases in children aged 0–19 years occurring in 2·64 billion person-years were included. The overall WSR was 140·6 per million person-years in children aged 0–14 years (based on 284 649 cases), and the most common cancers were leukaemia (WSR 46·4), followed by CNS tumours (WSR 28·2), and lymphomas (WSR 15·2). In children aged 15–19 years (based on 100 860 cases), the ASR was 185·3 per million person-years, the most common being lymphomas (ASR 41·8) and the group of epithelial tumours and melanoma (ASR 39·5). Incidence varied considerably between and within the described regions, and by cancer type, sex, age, and racial and ethnic group. Since the 1980s, the global WSR of registered cancers in children aged 0–14 years has increased from 124·0 (95% CI 123·3–124·7) to 140·6 (140·1–141·1) per million person-years. Interpretation This unique global source of childhood cancer incidence will be used for aetiological research and to inform public health policy, potentially contributing towards attaining several targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. The observed geographical, racial and ethnic, age, sex, and temporal variations require constant monitoring and research. Funding International Agency for Research on Cancer and the Union for International Cancer Control.
An increase in the incidence of breast cancer in women aged <40 years has been reported in recent years. Increased incidence could be partly explained by subtle detection biases, but the role of ...other risk factors cannot be ruled out. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the changes in temporal trends in breast cancer incidence in European women aged 20–39 years at diagnosis. Age specific breast cancer incidence rates for 17 European Cancer Registries were retrieved for the calendar period 1995–2006. Cancer registries data were pooled to reduce annual fluctuations present in single registries and increase incidence rates stability. Regression models were fitted to the data assuming that the number of cancer cases followed the Poisson distribution. Mean annual changes in the incidence rate (AIC) across the considered time window were calculated. The AIC estimated from all European registries was 1.032 (95 % CI = 1.019–1.045) and 1.014 (95 % CI = 1.010–1.018) in women aged 20–29 and 30–39 years old at diagnosis, respectively. The major change was detected among women aged 25–29 years at diagnosis: AIC = 1.033 (95 % CI = 1.020–1.046). The upward trend was not affected when registries with high or low AIC were removed from the analysis (sensitivity analysis). Our findings support the presence of an increase in the incidence of breast cancer in European women in their 20s and 30s during the decade 1995–2006. The interpretation of the observed increase is not straightforward since a number of factors may have affected our results. The estimated annual increase in breast cancer incidence may result in a burden of the disease that is important in terms of public health and deserves further investigation of possible risk factors.
The purpose of the study was to assess performance indicators of opportunistic breast screening carried out in one of the Primary Breast Diseases Centers (PBDC) and to find out if these indicators ...meet the standards set in "European guidelines for quality assurance in mammographic screening". The records of 1,896 asymptomatic women, aged between 50 and 69 years who attended PBDC for the first time in the period from October 15 1998 to October 15 2002, were reviewed. In all of them, clinical examination and mammography was done. If necessary, non-invasive additional imaging was also performed in the PBDC. If malignancy could not be excluded, the women were referred to the Institute of Oncology (IO) for additional invasive diagnostic procedures. The data on these findings were collected from the records of the IO. We compared our results with the recommended values of performance indicators valid for organized screening programs as determined by "European guidelines". Of 1,896 women, 415 (22%) were recalled for additional imaging. In 335/415 women the suspicion for malignancy was excluded with noninvasive diagnostic methods. Invasive diagnostic procedures were applied in 80/415 women. Carcinomas were detected in 23 women, the majority of them (96%) were non palpable. All carcinomas were ductal; 9 (39%), 7 (30.5%), 7 (30.5%) were grade 1, 2 and 3, respectively. One carcinoma was preinvasive; 20 had the tumor size T1, 1 had T2, while in one the size was not specified. The axillary lymph nodes were negative in 14/23 (61%) women with invasive carcinoma and positive in 5/23 (22%). Surgery of the axilla was considered unnecessary in 4/23 (17%). Diagnostic sensitivity in presented cohort was 96%, specificity 79%. After a negative mammogram 1 interval cancer was detected. Compared to the "European guidelines" we achieved satisfactory results in the number and size of detected and interval cancers, but the analysis showed a higher recall rate with too many false-positive results. Efforts should target lowering the recall rate without reducing the cancer detection rate. Compared to Slovenian average, a large percentage of localized breast cancers in our study claim for organized breast cancer screening program in Slovenia at earliest convenience.
To evaluate the role of pregnancy in the pathogenesis and clinical course of Hodgkin's disease (HD), we studied a series of 192 female patients aged 17-50 years at the time of diagnosis, and 496 ...healthy controls matched by residence and year of birth. Cases showed a marginally significant excess for the father having a high level of education, and more families were classified as white-collar workers than as industrial workers. No significant differences between cases and controls were found in other parameters describing the family and living conditions in childhood. Before the age when cases were diagnosed, 35.4% of cases and 34.7% of their controls were nulliparous. Among the cases, the mean age at first delivery was 22.4 years, with a total of 201 children (average: 1.05 per case) born before diagnosis; for the controls, the corresponding figures were 22.2 years and 573 children (average: 1.15). Within the first 6 months after the last delivery, HD was diagnosed in 12 of 124 parous cases (9.7%); for controls, the corresponding number is 18 out of 324 (5.6%). A marginally significant negative trend (P = 0.07) in odds ratios is seen with increasing duration of this interval. We conclude that our study could not confirm previous reports of a protective effect of pregnancy for the risk of HD. On the other hand, marked physiological changes in the period of puerperium may accelerate the expression of HD.
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