According to the National Cancer Registry (RON), published this Monday, the most common cancers in 2020 were breast cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer, and as usual, breast cancer predominated in women and prostate cancer in men .
“We were not expecting much change in the most common types of cancer compared to previous years. These data follow the usual pattern. What stands out about this RON is the total number of new cases, which is lower than expected, reflecting the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic,” RON coordinator Maria José Bento told Lusa.
In 2020, more than 52 thousand new cases were registered in Portugal, which is 9% less than in 2019.
In women, the most common cancer is breast cancer (7,425), followed by colorectal cancer (2,757) and non-melanoma skin cancer (1,625). New cases in men are more common in the prostate (5,776), colorectal (3,923) and lung (3,289).
In Portugal, cancer is the second cause of death, causing more than 28 thousand deaths annually, and in 2020 it accounted for 23% of all deaths.
Also, according to RON 2020, lung cancer caused 15.4% of cancer deaths. Colorectal cancer accounted for 13.3% of cancer deaths, and stomach cancer accounted for 7.9% of deaths.
In women, the leading cause of cancer mortality was breast cancer (16.1%), and in men it was lung cancer (19.4%). Breast cancer in women was followed by colorectal cancer (13.4%) and lung cancer (9.7%) as the leading causes of cancer deaths. In men, after lung cancer, the cancers causing the most deaths in 2020 were colorectal cancer (13.2%) and prostate cancer (11.3%).
RON is a registry based on a single electronic platform that aims to collect and analyze data on all cancer patients diagnosed and/or treated in mainland Portugal and the Autonomous Regions.
This registry includes all tumors in the population living in Portugal and allows monitoring of institutional activities, the effectiveness of organized examinations and therapeutic effectiveness, epidemiological surveillance, research and, together with Infarmed, monitoring the effectiveness of medicines and medical devices. .
Concerned with meeting legal deadlines, the coordinator explained to Lusa why data for 2020 became known in 2024, pointing out the need to “mature” information that is “very complex.”
“RON receives information from all public and private hospitals. The pathology itself takes some time. The diagnosis is not always made immediately and then treatment follows.
This is a large amount of information of some degree of complexity, and great care is required in recording it,” he said. Maria José Bento, who is also director of the epidemiological service of the Portuguese Institute of Oncology (IPO) in Porto, emphasized that “information on the incidence of cancer at the national level should be provided every three years, depending on the date of diagnosis of the pathology.”
“And this deadline is being respected,” he said, adding that he is convinced that this deadline is “important for clearing information.” “These deadlines are clearly defined. It is difficult to do this faster, and there is no particular interest. Oncological diseases have neither outbreaks nor peaks. They are growing, but are relatively stable,” he concluded.
The specialist took the opportunity to address both the population and political decision makers. “Adopt a healthy lifestyle, such as not smoking, exercising, visiting your family doctor frequently, keeping up with checkups. And surveys need to be encouraged and the organization needs to be expanded throughout the country. There are still territorial differences in coverage and organization, and this does not make sense,” he concluded.