15.1 Summary

Kidney cancer was the twelfth most common cancer in Ireland, accounting for 1.8% of all malignant neoplasms, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, in women and 2.8% in men (Table 15.1). The average number of new cases diagnosed each year was 188 in women and 310 in men. During 1995-2007, the number of new cases diagnosed showed an overall increase of approximately 6% per annum in RoI; the rate of increase was lower in NI at approximately 3%.

The risk of developing kidney cancer up to the age of 74 was 1 in 188 for women and 1 in 98 for men and was similar in NI and RoI. At the end of 2008, 606 women and 959 men aged under 65, and 765 women and 1,070 men aged 65 and over, were alive up to 15 years after their kidney cancer diagnosis.

Table 15.1 Summary information for kidney cancer in Ireland, 1995-2007

 

Ireland

RoI

NI

 

female

male

female

male

female

male

% of all new cancer cases

1.3%

2.0%

1.3%

2.0%

1.4%

2.1%

% of all new cancer cases excluding non-melanoma skin cancer

1.8%

2.8%

1.8%

2.8%

1.9%

2.9%

average number of new cases per year

188

310

123

214

65

96

cumulative risk to age 74

0.5%

1.0%

0.5%

1.0%

0.5%

1.0%

15-year prevalence (1994-2008)

1371

2029

913

1407

458

622

Kidney cancer is a disease of older ages, with only about 30% of new cases diagnosed in persons under 60 years old, and the majority of new cases presenting between 60 and 79 years. A significant percentage of women (16%) were diagnosed at 80 years and over (Figure 15.1). Age at diagnosis was slightly younger in RoI than in NI.

Figure 15.1 Age distribution of kidney cancer cases in Ireland, 1995-2007, by sex

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