Portugal has the highest cancer rate in European Union (EU) children. The incidence of the disease should increase 20% by 2040.
A study released this Monday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission (EC) revealed that Portugal has the highest rates of cancer disease in children in the EU.
The data are contained in the profile of cancer in Portugal, which states that cancer disease is the second main cause of death in the country, with the mortality rate to decrease a slower pace than the union average.
Between 2011 and 2021, cancer mortality in Portugal decreased 8%, a reduction that was less than the 12% registered in the EU, also indicates the OECD and CE profile, which points out that the improvements in mortality level fell short of the Other countries, especially among people under 65.
The estimates presented in the study point to an increase in new cases of cancer in all European Union (EU) countries between 2022 and 2040, but with Portugal to record more significant growth.
In Portugal, new cases of cancer is expected to increase 12% up to 2030 and 20% by 2040, above 9% EU averages by 2030 and 18% to 2040.
OECD and CE also refer that in 2022, cancers will have been diagnosed with 245 children and adolescents up to 15 years, representing the highest incidence rate among EU and Norway Island countries, being above average of the EU of 14 cases per 100,000 children.
As in the EU, in Portugal the incidence rate of boys is slightly higher than girls and both rates are approximately 30% higher than the EU average.
What explains these numbers?
The director of the National Program for Oncological Diseases, José Dinishe said to Lusa that this high incidence rate is explained with the cases that Portugal receives from the Portuguese -speaking African countries (PALOP) and that are reported as national and not from countries of origin.
Despite the high incidence rate of pediatric cancer in Portugal, the amount of investigation carried out at national level is relatively reducedalso warns the study, noting that between 2010 and 2022, Portugal recorded only 22 clinical trials with children and young people, which represented 5% of the 436 tests held at European level during this period.
“This value is significantly lower than that of countries with a similar population dimension, such as the Czech Republic (14%),” says OECD and CE, which add that, in 2018, 84% of the 68 drugs identified as essential for the treatment of the Cancer in patients between 0 and 18 years were available in Portugal compared to an average of 76% in the EU.
Men die much more
The study now released further that, in 2021, Portugal records one of the greater inequalities between men and women in terms of cancer mortality.
Men (318 per 100,000) register a cancer mortality rate that is practically twice that of women (161 per 100,000), which is partly explained with the three deadliest cancer locations – lung, colon and rectum e stomach – And with the greatest prevalence of behavioral risk factors.
Between 2011 and 2021, Portugal, however, was able to reduce the mortality rates of some of the most frequent cancer types-such as bladder (-34 %), cervical (-26 %), colorectal (-22 %) and prostate (-22 %)-faster than the EU average.
Mortality rates by lung cancer diminished 3% among men, but increased almost 23% among womenreflecting the evolution of the patterns of behavioral risk factors, says the profile of the disease in the country.
