Threat from pancreatic cancer
Thursday April 24th, 2014
Cancer of the pancreas is the only form of cancer that will continue to kill increasing numbers of people across Europe, researchers warned today.
The cancer is linked to obesity, diabetes and alcohol - as well as smoking and family genes.
A new study predicts more people will die from it in 2014 than in 2013.
The only other increase in cancer deaths is set to affect women struck down by lung cancer.
Researchers from Italy and Switzerland say that 41,300 men and 41,000 women in Europe will die from the disease this year.
Writing in the Annals of Oncology, the researchers predict that in total more than 742,000 men and 581,000 women will die from cancer in the 27 countries of the European Union this year.
Researcher Professor Carlo La Vecchia, of the University of Milan, Italy, said: "Our predictions for 2014 confirm the overall favourable trends for cancer mortality in the EU. They translate to an overall fall of 26% in men since the peak in cancer deaths in 1988 and a 20% fall in women."
He added: "Lung cancer in men peaked in the late 1980s and has been falling since, while rates of lung cancer continue to rise in women. The generations of women who started smoking in the 1960s and 1970s are now starting to develop lung cancer.
"Lung cancer will become the first cause of death in European women in the next few years, overtaking breast cancer."
He said other measures, such as improved treatment, screening and diagnosis, had helped cut deaths from cancers of the bowel, prostate and breast.
European cancer mortality predictions for the year 2014. Annals of Oncology 24 April 2014; doi:10.1093/annonc/mdu138
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