Canadian cancer rates up because of aging boomers

OTTAWA?A Statistics Canada study says the five-year prevalence rate for cancer rose 2.1 per cent a year between 1997 and 2008.

The study says the increases were relatively large for liver and thyroid cancers, while the rates declined for cancers of the larynx and cervix.

The five-year prevalence rate is a measure of how many people have been diagnosed with cancers in the previous five years and are still alive in a particular year.

The study says prevalence rates for prostate cancer, the most common cancer, rose 3 per cent a year over the study period.

The rate for breast cancer, the second most common cancer, rose an average of 1.3 per cent a year during the study.

The agency says there are a number of factors involved in the rising prevalence rates, including an aging population, better screening methods, more extensive screening and higher survival rates.

For all cancers combined, the five-year prevalence rate at the beginning of 2008 was 1,490 cases for every 100,000 people.

Colorectal and lung cancer were the third and fourth most common cancers, respectively. The average increase in five-year colorectal cancer prevalence from 1997 to 2008 was 2.3 per cent a year.

For lung cancer, the five-year prevalence rate increased by an average of 1.3 per cent a year over the period.

But lung cancer rates diverged sharply between men and women. In men, the rate declined 0.3 per cent a year, but in women it increased 3.0 per cent a year.

The study suggested the difference was due to sharper decreases in smoking among men since the late 1960s.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1117389--aging-boomers-better-screening-drive-cancer-prevalence-rate-up-study

real steel iphone 4 cases dean ornish dean ornish yom kippur yom kippur diamondbacks