Cancer rates are highest in the eastern part of the country

The cancer incidence rate in this province is 531.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. By comparison, there are 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 as these two provinces did not report their data at RCC.

Please note that the data collected is from 2019 and predates the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have had an impact on cancer detection and diagnosis in the country.

More cancers in the east of the country

Overall, however, incidence rates have slightly decreased in the country, an encouraging figure for Atlantic Cancer Research Institute researcher and associate professor at the Université de Moncton Sandra Turcotte.

We do not have anything very different or alarming from what we saw before. The numbers are still a bit low in some provinces, so that’s encouraging.stresses Mrs Turcotte.

According to Statistics Canada, cancer incidence is higher in the Atlantic provinces for all cancer types, after accounting for 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 differences in lifestyle, which vary significantly from region to region.explains Statistics Canada in a press release.

Controlling for sex, cancer incidence rates are highest in Prince Edward Island for men (608 cases per 100,000 population) and in Newfoundland and Labrador for women (508 cases per 100,000 population).

According to Sandra Turcotte, several factors can explain the incidence of cancer in the Atlantic provinces.

–our rates are a bit higher than in other parts of the country–we have an aging population, we must not neglect that, cancer rates increase with age”,”text”:”Among the factors is tobacco, there is also obesity -our rates are a little higher than in other parts of the country-, we have an aging population, we must not neglect that, cancer rates increase with age”}}”>Among the factors is smoking, there is also obesity – our rates are a little higher than in other parts of the country – we have an aging population, we must not neglect that, cancer rates increase with ageexplains the researcher.

No more breast cancer in Alberta

Geographic differences are seen for most, but not all, of the more common cancer types.

Lung, bronchial and colorectal cancers are more frequent in the Atlantic provinces.

However, breast cancer is more common 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).

Prostate cancer rates are highest in Manitoba (140 cases per 100,000 men) and Alberta (137), while the lowest rates are found in Prince Edward Island (114) and Ontario (110).

In general, the most common cancers in men are prostate, lung and bronchial cancer, and colorectal cancer.

Among women, breast, colorectal and uterine cancers predominate.

Sandra Turcotte remains hopeful that technological advances will eventually lead to better cancer treatments.

Some cancers have advanced, others less, and that is why research is extremely important. All the implementation of new technologies, sequencing allows us to do a little more customization and try to improve our approaches.wants Mrs. Turcotte.

According to projections from research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, there will be an estimated 233,900 new cancer cases and 85,100 cancer deaths in 2022.

With information from Pascal Raiche-Nogue