Estimates of cancer burden in Piedmont and Aosta Valley

Cancer registration in Piedmont currently covers the city of Turin and the province of Biella, together representing 24% of the regional population. The objective of this paper is to provide estimates of the incidence and mortality rates and prevalence proportions for cancer of the lung, breast, cervix, prostate, colon-rectum and stomach and melanoma of the skin for 2012 and the time trends up to 2015 for the Piedmont and Aosta Valley regions.

The estimates were obtained by applying the MIAMOD method, a statistical back-calculation approach to derive incidence and prevalence figures starting from mortality and relative survival data. Published data from the Italian cancer registries were modeled in order to estimate the regional cancer survival. The MIAMOD estimates were also compared with those obtained by applying a method based on the mortality-incidence and prevalence-incidence ratios.

The most frequently diagnosed cancers in absolute terms were prostate, colorectal, breast and lung cancer with about 5,000, 4,700, 3,300, and 2,900 new cases, respectively, in 2012. Incidence rates were rising for melanoma in both sexes and lung cancer in women, while they diminished for cervical and stomach cancer. For prostate cancer and male lung cancer the rates initially increased but were estimated to decrease in the most recent period. Colorectal cancer also increased up to the 1990s but was estimated to reach a plateau in the final years of estimation. Prevalence increased for all the considered cancers with the exception of cervical cancer. Mortality was declining for all considered cancers with the exception of lung cancer in women.

Monitoring indicators of the cancer burden is crucial for setting priorities among possible health system activities in a limited-resource setting. Piedmont has long invested in organized, population-based screening programs: these will have to be extended and accompanied by greater efforts in primary prevention.