The cancer incidence rate in this province is 531.2 cases per 100,000 people. By comparison, it is 472.3 cases per 100,000 people in British Columbia, the province with the lowest cancer incidence rates in the country.
These data are taken from the Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR), but do not include data from Quebec and Nova Scotia since these two provinces did not report their data to the RCC.
Note that the data collected is for 2019 and predates the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have had an impact. impact on screening and diagnosis of cancer in the country.
More cancers in the east of the country
In general, the incidence rates have nevertheless slightly decreased in the country, an encouraging figure for the researcher at the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute and associate professor at the Université de Moncton Sandra Turcotte.
We don’t have anything very different or alarming from what we saw before. The numbers are still down a bit in some provinces, so that’s encouraging
underlines Ms. Turcotte.
According to Statistics Canada, the incidence of cancer is higher in the Atlantic provinces for all types of cancer, after taking into account variations in the age structure of the provinces and territories.
Cancer incidence is influenced by factors such as screening policies, data collection, access to health care and lifestyle differences, which vary significantly from region to region.
explains Statistics Canada in a press release.
Controlling for gender, cancer incidence rates are highest in Prince Edward Island for men (608 cases per 100,000 population) and Newfoundland and Labrador for women (508 cases per 100,000 people).
According to Sandra Turcotte, several factors can explain the incidence of cancer in the Atlantic provinces.
<q data-attributes=""lang":"value":"fr","label":"Français","value":"html":"Parmi les facteurs il y a le tabac, il y a aussi l’obésité–our rates are a bit higher than elsewhere in the country–we have an aging population, we must not neglect that, cancer rates increase with age”,”text”:”Among the factors there is tobacco, there is also obesity-our rates are a little higher than elsewhere in the country-, we have an aging population, we must not neglect that, cancer rates increase with age””>Among the factors there is tobacco, there is also obesity – our rates are a little higher than elsewhere in the country – we have an aging population, we must not neglect that, the cancer rates increase with ageexplains the researcher.
No more breast cancer in Alberta
Geographic differences are observed for most of the most common types of cancer, but not all.
Lung, bronchus and colorectal cancers are more prevalent in the Atlantic provinces.
However, breast cancer is more prevalent in Alberta (139 cases per 100,000 women) and Ontario (132). The lowest rates are found in New Brunswick (103) and Prince Edward Island (113).
The rate of prostate cancer is highest in Manitoba (140 cases per 100,000 men) and Alberta (137) while the lowest rates are in Prince Edward Island (114) and Ontario (110).
In general, the most common cancers in men are cancers of the prostate, lungs and bronchi, and colorectal cancers.
Among women, cancers of the breast, colorectal and uterus dominate.
Sandra Turcotte remains hopeful that technological advances will eventually lead to better cancer treatments.
Research is paramount according to Sandra Turcotte of the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Pascal Raiche-Nogue
Some cancers have made progress, others less, and that’s why research is extremely important. All the implementation of new technologies, sequencing allows us to do a little more customization and to try to improve our approaches
wishes Ms. Turcotte.
According to projections from research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, there are an estimated 233,900 new cases of cancer and 85,100 deaths from cancer in 2022.
With information by Pascal Raiche-Nogue