Record number of cancer diagnoses but survival rates continue to rise
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Last year, 78,416 people in Belgium were diagnosed with cancer, the highest number in a decade, according to new figures from the Belgian Cancer Registry, reported by Het Laatste Nieuws. At the same time, the number of deaths from cancer is falling and survival rates for certain cancers have risen dramatically.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Belgium, according to the figures from the Belgian Cancer Registry. In 2022, there were 12,700 new cases, overtaking breast cancer, of which there are more than 11,000 cases a year. Together, these two cancers account for almost a third of all cancer diagnoses, followed by lung cancer and colon cancer.
The number of cancer diagnoses increases each year, but that doesn’t mean the risk of cancer also increases, cancer researcher Filip Lardon of the University of Antwerp told Het Laatste Nieuws. He pointed to the growing population and the increasing ageing of the population as reasons.
"The figures sometimes give a distorted picture because we are also detecting cancer faster and better," he said. "Mortality rates have also changed dramatically compared to 15 years ago. Today, seven out of 10 cancer patients are still alive five years after their diagnosis. Among women, the percentage is higher and heading towards 80 per cent. Ten years ago, it was maximum 60 per cent."
The improved survival rates are mainly due to earlier detection and immunotherapy, Lardon said. Ten years ago, about 27,000 Belgians a year died of cancer. By 2021, the latest figures available, that figure had dropped to less than 26,000.
"The survival rates for skin cancer have increased the fastest," Lardon said . For men, the survival rate is now 94 per cent, for women 97 per cent.
Cancer researcher at work at Edinburgh University © PHOTO PRESS ASSOCIATION
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