The reduction in mortality, male and female, for all cancers and for many of the so-called "big killers", those tumors with a higher impact (eg. breast, lung, colorectal, prostate cancers), is the most striking result that emerges from new data in the V annual report "The numbers of cancer in Italy".
The publication, developed jointly by the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM) and the Italian Association of Cancer Registries (AIRTUM), highlights from the first page as this encouraging trend demonstrates the effectiveness of the National Health System (NHS).
The effectiveness of the NHS, says the report, is the result "of the combined strategy of primary prevention interventions that reduce exposure to cancer factors and therefore the number of new patients, of secondary prevention with an anticipation of diagnosis that means most effectively treatments, and more effective and widely accessible therapies".
The survival data are presented in Italy, for many cancer sites, at levels equal to or higher than the European average; in this year's report is just the comparison between our country and the rest of the continent to allow a more objective assessment of the quality of the NHS.
Compared to the previous edition, it has been updated chapter on cigarette smoking, which still affects one third of men and a quarter of women. Among the risk factors, is also described in detail the role played by asbestos in oncology. A new study covers mammography screening in our country, still showing strong inequalities, both in the spread both in terms of participation, among the areas of the South and the Centre-North.
Read the report AIOM-AIRTum "The numbers of cancer in Italy"