Cancer in Ireland 1994 to 2002

This report describes cancer incidence, mortality, treatment and survival in Ireland from 1994 to 2002. The total number of cancer cases is estimated to have increased at an annual rate of 1.8% for women and 1.1% for men during this period. This is an increase of about 300 cases each year. However, almost all of the increase noted is due to population growth and ageing. The overall true risk of cancer (allowing for the effects of population change and ageing) is not increasing for women and is increasing by only 0.6% per year for men. For the commoner invasive cancers, the largest rate of increase appears to be in cancer of the uterus (4% per year), breast, lung and kidney (3%) for women, and in kidney (7%) melanoma (6%) prostate cancer (5%) and lymphoma (5%) for men.