Abstract
The aim of the study was an analysis of mortality trends due to malignant neoplasms in Poland. The study material was a database, consisting of 1,367,364 death certificates of inhabitants of Poland who died during the period 2000–2014 due to malignant cancer. To calculate years of life lost, the SEYLLp index (Standard Expected Years of Life Lost per living person) was applied. We also calculated AAPC (Average Annual Percentage Change). The SEYLLp index (per 10,000 population) due to malignant neoplasms in Poland in males decreased from 586.3 in 2000 to 575.5 in 2014, whereas in females it increased from 398.6 in 2000 to 418.3 in 2014. The greatest number of lost years of life in 2014 was attributed to lung cancer (174.7 per 10,000 males and 77.3 per 10,000 females), breast cancer in females (64.5) and colorectal cancer in males (39.0). The most negative trends were observed for lung cancer in females (AAPC = 3.5%) and for colorectal cancer (AAPC = 1.8%) and prostate cancer (AAPC = 1.6%) in males. Many lost years could have been prevented by including a greater number of Polish inhabitants in screening examinations, mostly targeted at malignant neoplasm, whose incidence is closely connected with modifiable risk factors.
Highlights
The early 1970s in Western Europe marked the beginning of the so-called “cardiovascular revolution”, which was a sequence of changes regarding health [1]
In 2014, the highest standardised death rates (SDR) values observed in the male group regarded: lung cancer (11.72), colorectal cancer (5.20) and prostate cancer (4.11)
Studies conducted by the American Cancer Society reveal that the most common kinds of cancer occurring in developed countries include prostate cancer, lung and bronchial cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer [29]
Summary
The early 1970s in Western Europe marked the beginning of the so-called “cardiovascular revolution”, which was a sequence of changes regarding health [1]. In Poland, similar changes started to be observed only after 1990 [2]. The process of increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases, which had started at the beginning of the 1960s, was stopped and mortality due to the above cause between 1991 and 2010 in Poland decreased from 499 to 271 per 100,000 population [3]. Those changes were one of causes of lifespan extension. A consequence of the health progress, observed in the last two decades, was a change in the epidemiological model of morbidity and mortality in Poland [4,5]. World Health Organisation (WHO) experts believe that one third of cancers could be avoided, one third could be successfully treated and, in one third of cases, the quality of life of cancer patients could be improved [8,9]
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