Between 1990 and 2023, the number of new cases of cancer almost doubled in metropolitan France, with a more unfavorable trend among women, according to a large study published but not measuring the impact of the Covid crisis.
For 2023, the number of new cancers is estimated at 433,136 cases, indicates this work by Public Health France, the National Cancer Institute, the network of cancer registries Francim and the biostatistics-bioinformatics service of the Hospices Civils de Lyon ( HCL).
“Between 1990 and 2023, the number of new cases of cancer doubled, with a 98% increase in cancers in men and 104% in women, all locations combined”, according to this study published in the weekly epidemiological bulletin of SpF.
The median age at diagnosis is 70 years in men and 68 years in women, specifies this work on the 19 most common cancers and only invasive tumors.
The increase in the number of cancers is linked to a large extent to the demographic evolution of France (growth and aging of the population), but also to an increase in the risk linked to behavior and lifestyles, note the researchers.
In France, cancer is the leading cause of death in men, the second in women after cardiovascular disease.
Cancers of the prostate, breast, lung and colon-rectum remain the most frequent there, as in most European countries.
If, in men, the most frequent cancers have seen their incidence drop or stabilize between 1990 and 2023, it is the opposite for women.
In particular, in women, the incidence of cancers induced in part by tobacco (lip-mouth-pharynx, esophagus or lung) “increases considerably”, while it decreases in men, points out this study.
The estimates, from cancer registries, are partly based on projections for the period 2019-2023 where the data was not yet available.
The impact of the crisis linked to the Covid pandemic on the incidence of cancers is therefore not included in the study.