New numbers from the Canadian Cancer Society indicate nearly half of the population in Canada will get cancer during their lifetime.
For women, the chances are now 45%, for men it is now 49%.
Sandra Krueckl is the Vice-President of Cancer Control for the BC-Yukon Division.
She says the outlook in BC mirrors the recent situation across the country.
“In Canada, that one in two statistic on a yearly basis reflects 206,000 people approximately across the country being diagnosed each year and when you look at that specific to BC that’s about 12%, so over 25,000 people here in the province are being diagnosed each year.”
The spike is due to an aging population as 90% of Canadians diagnosed with cancer in 2017 will be over the age of 50.
However, it’s not all bad according to Krueckl. “We estimate about 180,000 cancer deaths have been prevented or avoided over the last 25 years. While it is a disease of aging and we can’t stop the aging process there’s a lot we can do to intervene as individuals and enough course the continued need for research that helps us understand more and more how we can better treat, detect and prevent the disease,” says Krueckl.
She admits most people are adopting a glass-half-full, glass-half-empty philosophy. “It’s a good way of putting it. The reality is the risk of getting cancer isn’t increasing for Canadians but the number of Canadians that are entering that age group where the risk is higher. That’s what’s increasing is the proportion of our population that is 50 and older is adding to the overall number of cases.”
But there is good news since the early detection and treatment the overall cancer survival rate is now 60%.
“In the 1940’s the five-year survival rate with only 25% and today it’s 60% and that’s because we understand a lot more about how to better treat, detect and prevent the disease. 100 different types of diseases are under the umbrella of cancer and some of them we know a lot about. Testicular cancer has a 90% survival rate but some are really difficult to treat and we need to continue putting a focus on pancreatic cancer where the survival rate is only 8%,” says Krueckl.
On the flip side, the number of lung cancer deaths continues to be on the downward trend.
Since 1989, over 31,000 deaths in Canada have been prevented just by quitting smoking.