The National Cancer Registry Ireland

National Cancer Registry launches new report on cancer treatment and survival in Ireland 1994-2001: improvements seen in survival for most cancers, but regional differences persist.

A report published today by the National Cancer Registry predicts that cancer numbers will have increased from 22,000 a year at present to 42,000-43,000 by 2020. The number of potentially fatal cancers will more than double, from 13,800 to 28,800, in the same period. About two-thirds of this increase is expected to be due to the increasing number of elderly people in the population, and the remainder to upward trends in the incidence of some of the common cancers. Some of the largest increases are expected in cancer of the prostate (a 275% increase in numbers between 2000 and 2020), kidney (an increase of 160% for women and 200% for men) and melanoma (130% increase in women and 170% increase in men).

Death rates from cancer are higher in women in Ireland than in women in other European countries, states a new report released by the National Cancer Registry.

Smokers are 25 times more likely than non-smokers to develop lung cancer due to radon gas, according to a recent Europe-wide survey on the health risks of radon gas, which has been reviewed by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) and the National Cancer Registry of Ireland (NCRI).

The UK Office of National Statistics , in partnership with the Irish National Cancer Registry, the UK regional cancer registries and the vital statistics organisations in Ireland and the UK, has published today an atlas of cancer in Ireland and the UK. The atlas, the first of its kind, gives information on new cases (incidence) and deaths (mortality) for all common cancers for the period 1991 to 2000, by region in Britain and by health board area in Ireland and Northern Ireland.