BC has lowest rate of cancer fatalities in Canada
Posted May 29, 2013 7:13 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The disease affects you or someone you know, but there is some encouraging news about cancer rates in BC to tell you about today: When it comes to the deadly disease, our province has the lowest rate of fatalities in the country.
Dr. Sandra Krueckl with the Canadian Cancer Society attributes that to the fact British Columbians tend to eat healthier and get more exercise, and that BC has one of the lowest smoking rates.
Despite that, she says doctors are seeing an uptick in the number of liver cancer patients. “Overall, liver cancer is a rare cancer but since the 1970s, the number of new cases and the rates of new cases in liver cancer has tripled in Canadian men and doubled in Canadian women.”
Liver cancer has a very poor prognosis, with a five-year relative survival rate of only 20 per cent.
Krueckl admits drinking too much alcohol, obesity, and diabetes are linked to liver cancer, “but the main risk factor… is chronic infection with either Hepatitis B or C.”
In March, the province said it would invest $1.5 million in a program that would find new ways to fight Hepatitis B and C and hire experts to prevent new infections.
Of the different types, lung cancer kills the most British Columbians each year. The most common form of the illness for BC men is prostate cancer, while the most common for women is breast cancer.
The most recent BC stats (2007) show there were 173 new cases of liver cancer in men and 176 deaths. For women, during the same year, there were 64 new cases and 89 deaths.
This year, roughly 24,000 new cancer cases will be diagnosed and nearly 10,000 cancer deaths are expected, which is consistent with 2012 (23,300 and 9,800 respectively).
Every hour, an average of 21 people are diagnosed with some type of cancer and nine people die from the disease.
