In July 2023, the French National Cancer Institute (NCI) will publish the 3rd edition of its “Panorama of cancers in France”. The publication of this panorama caught the attention of our laboratory, which specialises in 2D probe repair. Many cancers can be detected by medical imaging. That’s why we are going to publish this panorama today on our “News” page.
Panorama: instructions for use
With this third panorama, the National Cancer Institute has published a real reference document. Divided into three chapters, it provides an accurate and up-to-date assessment of the situation in France.
The first part presents figures from 1990 to the present day.
The second presents the most common cancers, distinguishing between men and women.
Finally, in the third and last chapter, the NCI reminds us of the risk factors, screening and treatment.
1 – Trends since 1990
Since 1990, “the number of new cancer cases has almost doubled for both sexes, all sites combined”, according to the study. However, to better understand the reasons for this trend, the NCI believes that several factors need to be taken into account. Lionel Lafay, head of the monitoring and documentation department, explains:
“Demographic change (population growth and ageing) explains part of this trend, and changes in cancer risk explain the rest. Demographic change accounts for 78% of the increase in incidence in men and 57% in women between 1990 and 2023. While the number of new cases of ‘all cancers’ is increasing, the standardised incidence rate rose until 2005, then fell and has been leveling off since 2012 for men, while it has been rising steadily since 1990 for women. In women, two cancers in particular show a worrying increase over the period: lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. Despite these changes, the most common cancers remain breast, prostate, lung and colorectal”.
2 – The most common cancers
In the second part, the National Cancer Institute tells us that the most common cancers are
- Lung cancer.
- Breast cancer.
- Prostate cancer.
- Colorectal cancer.
- Cancer of the pancreas.
- Liver cancer.
- Gynaecological cancers.
- Skin melanoma.
Did you know that breast cancer also affects men?
3 – Risk factors and how the French perceive them
These are listed below, ranked according to importance:
- Smoking.
- Alcohol consumption.
- Poor diet.
- Overweight/obesity
- Certain infections.
- Occupational exposure.
- Ionising radiation.
- Physical inactivity.
Unsurprisingly, tobacco and alcohol consumption top the list of risk factors. However, the French seem to play them down in their perception. In fact, according to the NCI Panorama:
- “80.3% of French people think that smoking can certainly contribute to the development of cancer. However, smokers underestimate this risk factor, with more than one in five saying that a risk only appears after 20 cigarettes a day and 52.6% setting the risk threshold above their own consumption”.
- “In France, where daily consumption is falling (8% in 2021 compared with 14.5% in 2015), alcohol is the third leading cause of cancer cited by the French. However, 23.5% of French people still believe that drinking a glass of wine a day reduces the risk of cancer. Paradoxically, those who drink the most (over 75s) are the most likely to cite it as a risk factor (1.5 times more than the 15-24 age group)”.
To find out more
This is a summary of the report. However, as mentioned above, this panorama is a real reference document. Our laboratory, which specialises in repairing 2D probes, strongly recommends that you consult the full Panorama of Cancer in France in 2023.
