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Prediction: one million EU residents at risk of dying of cancer in 2012
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Almost 1,300,000 citizens of the EU countries will die from various cancers in 2012. However, the mortality rate from cancer in Europe will continue to decline. This forecast was made by a group of scientists from Italy and Switzerland based on statistical data on cancer mortality in the EU from 1970 to 2007 and information from the European Commission on the expected rate of population growth in European countries. Their work was published on February 29 in the journal Annals of Oncology.
This year, the authors of the study predict, 717,398 men and 565,703 women will die from cancer in the EU. Although the absolute mortality figures are higher than five years ago, which is related to the general process of population ageing, the authors of the work note that in comparison with the 2007 figures, the mortality rate among men is expected to decrease by 10%, and among women - by 7%.
Men will die 20% less often from stomach cancer, 11% less often from leukemia, 10% less often from lung and prostate cancer, and 7% less often from rectal cancer. As for women, a 23% decrease in mortality from stomach cancer is expected, 12% from leukemia, 11% from uterine and rectal cancer, and 9% from breast cancer. The most favorable situation with breast cancer is predicted for young women - the authors of the study expect that in 2012 mortality from this disease among this population group will decrease by 17%. The scientists extend this forecast to all EU countries except Poland.
At the same time, the authors of the study do not predict a decrease in mortality from pancreatic cancer and expect a seven percent increase in mortality among women from lung cancer. This is especially true for Great Britain and Poland, where the mortality rates from lung cancer are already the highest in Europe - 21.4 and 16.9 per hundred thousand women, respectively. In Spain, where women die from lung cancer less often than other Europeans, this figure is 6.8.
British experts, cited by the Daily Mail, suggest that such a high prevalence of lung cancer among British women (more than 39 thousand cases are diagnosed in Great Britain annually) is connected with the advertising policy of tobacco companies immediately after the Second World War, which then made women the main target of cigarette advertising.
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