Mortality of preventable cancers has significantly declined in Korea in the past 10 years, a report showed.
The National Cancer Center (NCC) released the 2021 Cancer Trends Report on Wednesday.
According to the report, mortality of preventable cancers went down from 66.6 per 100,000 population in 1997 to 24.8 per 100,000 in 2019.
Preventable cancers include lip, oral, pharyngeal cancer, esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, bladder, melanoma, cervical cancer, and mesothelioma.
During the same period, deaths from treatable cancers also declined from 10.8 per 100,000 people to 9.1 per 100,000. Treatable cancers include colorectal cancer, female breast cancer, ovarian cancer, testicular cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, thyroid cancer, lymphoid, and benign tumor.
The report also provided adult intake of fruits and vegetables. Daily intake of fruits and vegetables per 1,000kcal by people aged 19 years and older fell from 277.9g in 1998 to 218.9g in 2018.
NCC has been publishing Cancer Trends Report since 2020 to monitor the national cancer burden. The report covers all stages of cancer patients.
As part of the national comprehensive plan for cancer control, the report set 54 cancer monitoring indicators in six categories – prevention, screening, diagnosis, life after cancer, end of life, and death. The report analyzes the trends in each indicator and establishes a systematic cancer monitoring system.
“The report helps us see at a glance which areas are making progress and which areas require more effort. So, it will help to check the effect of the national cancer control project and find areas for improvement,” said NCC President Seo Hong-gwan.
Seo said that accurate statistics and analysis on the cancer status would be the first step to overcome cancer. He also hoped that the latest report could help Korean people understand cancer better and be widely used as basic data for cancer research and business projects.
The report’s summary is available in PDF at www.cancerdata.kr/surveillance and the report can be downloaded from the National Cancer Information Center website and the NCC.