The report is the result of a collaboration between Aiom (Italian Association of Medical Oncology), AirtumAiom Foundation, Hon, Steps, Silver Passes and Siapec.
The covid pandemicthe experts note, determined in 2020 a decline in new diagnoses partly related tointerruption of screeningswhile today we are witnessing the recovery of cancer cases as in other European countries. A worrying picture that is likely to get worse if we don’t put a barrier to incorrect lifestyles. They also weigh i delays in assistance accumulated during the pandemic, but there is a resurgence of secondary prevention programs and early stage surgeries.
The most diagnosed cancers – The most diagnosed cancer in 2022 is breast cancer (55,700 cases, +0.5% compared to 2020), followed by colorectal cancer (48,100, +1.5% in men and +1.6% in women) , lung (43,900, +1.6% in men and +3.6% in women), prostate (40,500, +1.5%) and bladder (29,200, +1.7% in men and +1.0% in women).
Screenings resume – On the other hand, the resumption of screening programs, which returned to pre-Covid levels in 2021, should be read positively. In particular, the mammography test increased, reaching 46% coverage (in 2020 it stood at 30%), for the colorectal test by 30% (it was 17% in 2020) and for the uterine cervix by 35% (was at 23% in 2020). The reactivation of secondary prevention programs corresponds to an increase in the number of surgeries for colorectal and breast cancer, even at an early stage.
Schillaci: “50% of deaths are preventable with behaviour” – The numbers collected during the two-year period 2020-2021 “mark a moment of acceleration mostly in a pejorative sense as regards behavioral risk factors for tumors”, highlighted Minister Schillaci. This is “a fact that cannot fail to cause concern, if we consider that 40% of cases and 50% of cancer deaths can be avoided by intervening on preventable risk factors, especially on lifestyles”. As emerges from the analysis, “following decades characterized by notable progress, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a setback in the fight against cancer, causing, overall, a sharp slowdown in diagnostic activities in the oncology field in Italy “, with a consequent increase in advanced forms of the disease. These delays will certainly affect the future incidence of neoplastic diseases”.
Act on diagnostic delay and lifestyles – These updated data “invite more and more to strengthen the actions to counter the diagnostic delay and to promote secondary and above all primary prevention”. This is the comment by Saverio Cinieri, president of Aiom, who underlines the importance of “acting on the control of risk factors starting from tobacco smoke, obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol abuse and the need to encourage vaccinations against infections known to cause cancer, such as HPV.”
But there is also a positive fact: compared to the 2.5 million citizens who lived in Italy in 2006 with a previous diagnosis of cancer, this rose to around 3.6 million in 2020. That is to say 37% more than what was observed just 10 years earlier .
