Breast Cancer Prevalence Measured by the Lombardy Cancer Registry

Abstract

Owing to aging of the population, the improvement in survival and the increasing incidence, the number of prevalent cases will increase. This phenomenon has and will have great importance for the health planning.

Cancer Prevalence in the Elderly

“…Prevalence would seem to be the most suitable measure to define the growing health burden that cancer is assuming with increasing population age, on the basis of other epidemiological and demographic indexes. Indeed, the prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer is influenced by three main determinants, namely survival, incidence and demography, the latter two strongly involving elderly people 6 • 18 • Incidence rates in fact show a close correlation with age, and age per se represents the main single risk factor for almost all major cancers and for some less common ones; in addition, the demographic composition of Western countries is quickly changing and the age structure of the population is affected by a reduction in birth rates and a rise in the life expectancy 25 . In view of this prospect, paying particular attention to the cancer prevalence among the elderly becomes a mandatory priority for health care planners and administrators dealing with social policies.…”

Contrasts in cancer prevalence in Connecticut, Iowa, and Utah

“…The PREVAL software has been developed to calculate directly cancer prevalence by age, time since diagnosis, and period of diagnosis from available cancer registry data. 12,13 Use of this method, combined with a new set of routines to estimate prevalence from cancer registry data covering a relatively brief registration period, 14,15 makes it possible to study and compare prevalence data on a large scale from different areas employing a uniform methodologic approach. Work is ongoing that aims to provide prevalence data by these methods for much of Europe 16 using cancer registry incidence data up to 1992.…”