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Fast facts Cancer statistics
• Every hour of every day, an average of 21 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer and nine will die from the disease.
• Almost half of all Canadians (41 per cent of females and 46 per cent of males) will develop cancer in their lifetimes.
• A quarter of all Canadians are expected to die of the disease.
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• Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canadian men, accounting for 25 per cent of all new cases in men.
• Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canadian women, accounting 26 per cent of all new cases in women.
• Prostate, breast, lung and colorectal cancers account for more than half (52 per cent) of all newly diagnosed cancer cases.
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• The number of new cancer cases and deaths continues to rise as the Canadian population grows and ages. However, rates of the disease are generally stabilizing for new cases and declining for deaths.
• An estimated 187,600 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in Canada in 2013 (excluding non-‐melanoma skin cancer).
• There will be an estimated 75,500 deaths from cancer in Canada in 2013.
• More than 16,300 Albertans and people living in the Northwest Territories will be diagnosed with cancer in 2013 and more than 6,300 will die.
• Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer death for both Canadian men and women, taking the lives of more people than breast, prostate and colorectal cancers combined.
• People diagnosed with cancer today have a better chance of survival than they did just over a decade ago (63 per cent of Canadians now survive cancer, compared to 56 per cent in the 1990s).
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• On average, mortality rates have declined by two per cent per year for the following cancers: colorectal, lung and prostate cancers in men; breast, ovarian and cervical cancer in women; larynx, stomach and non-‐Hodgkin lymphoma cancers in both sexes.
• In 2013, almost all cancer deaths in Canada (95 per cent) will occur in people over the age of 50. Most of these deaths (61 per cent) will occur in people over the age of 70.
• Cancer is the leading cause of death in Canada, accounting for 30 per cent of all deaths.
Cause of death in Canada
Cancer (29.8%)
Heart disease (20.7%)
Cerebrovascular (5.9%)
Chronic lower respiratory diseases (4.6%)
Accidents (4.3%)
Diabetes (2.9%)
Alzheimer's disease (2.6%)
Influenza and pneumonia (2.4%)
Suicide (1.6%)
Kidney disease (1.5%)
Other (23.6%)
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Fast facts Liver cancer
• While liver cancer is still considered a rare cancer (accounting for an estimated one per cent of all new cancer diagnoses and deaths in 2013) it is one of the fastest rising cancers in Canada.
• The incidence rate of liver cancer has tripled in Canadian men and doubled in Canadian women since 1970.
• In 2013, approximately 2,100 Canadians will be diagnosed with liver cancer – 1,550 men and 490 women.
• In 2013, approximately 1,000 Canadians will die from liver cancer – 780 men and 240 women.
• Liver cancer has a very poor prognosis with a five-‐year relative survival rate in Canada of only 20 per cent, meaning four out of five people diagnosed with liver cancer will die within five years.
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• In Canada in 2009, premature death from liver cancer resulted in 14,700 potential years of lost life.
• Liver cancer is the third-‐leading cause of cancer death worldwide after lung and stomach cancers, accounting for about 700,000 deaths annually around the world.
• In most cases, liver cancer does not cause any symptoms until very late in the course of the disease.
• People with liver cancer often present with large, late-‐stage tumours that are generally not curable.
• The main risk factors for primary liver cancer are chronic hepatitis B and C infections, smoking, heavy alcohol use, obesity and diabetes.
• Approximately 600,000 Canadians are infected with hepatitis B or C, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
• In 2011 (the most recent year that complete data is available) there were over 500 Albertans living with liver cancer.*
• In 2013, more than 170 Alberta men are expected to be diagnosed with liver cancer and nearly 130 will die of the disease.*
• In 2013, approximately 80 Alberta women are expected to be diagnosed with liver cancer and just over 60 will die of the disease.*
• Among Alberta males, the incidience rate for liver cancer increased by 2.77 per cent per year between 1992 and 2011.*
• Among Alberta females, the incidence rate for liver cancer increased by 2.12 per cent per year between 1992 and 2011.*
• Among Alberta males, the death rate for liver cancer increased by 1.53 per cent per year between 1992 and 2011.*
• Among Alberta females, the death rate for liver cancer did not significantly change between 1992 and 2011.*
* Statistics according to the Alberta Cancer Registry
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More about hepatitis B
• Hepatitis B infection accounts for nearly one-‐quarter (23 per cent) of liver cancer cases in developed countries such as Canada, but the percentage is much higher in parts of the developing world where hepatitis B is common, such eastern Asia and sub-‐Saharan Africa.
• Hepatitis B can be prevented with a vaccine. All provinces in Canada offer universal vaccination against this form of hepatitis, although the vaccination strategies vary from province to province.
• Universal childhood vaccinations for hepatitis B have been widely available in Canada since the mid-‐1990s.
• Hepatitis B is commonly passed through exposure to contaminated blood or body fluids between sexual partners, by sharing needles among drug users or by sharing personal care articles, such as razors, scissors, nail clippers or toothbrushes, with an infected person.
More about hepatitis C
• Hepatitis C infection accounts for approximately 30 to 50 per cent of liver cancer cases in North America. The percentage is lower in the developing world.
• There currently is not a vaccine for hepatitis C but research to develop a vaccine is underway.
• In Canada, hepatitis C is spread through exposure to contaminated blood and is sometimes transmitted through sexual activity.
Reducing the risk of liver cancer
There are a number of things Canadians can do to reduce their risk of liver cancer, including:
• protect themselves against hepatitis infection
o people can get vaccinated for hepatitis B if they haven’t already done so; there is no vaccine for hepatitis C, but research to develop a vaccine is underway
• practise safe sex
• don’t share needles or other drug-‐use equipment
• get treated if they have a hepatitis infection
o treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection can reduce the amount of virus in a person, which may lead to a lower risk of liver cancer
o treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection can reduce and in some people eliminate the virus completely
• limit the amount of alcohol they drink
• be a non-‐smoker
• be physically active and maintain a healthy body weight
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Glossary Potential years of lost life – an estimate of the number of years of life lost due to premature death. It provides an alternative measure to death rates by taking into account average life expectancy and giving more weight to deaths that occur among younger people. Five-‐year relative survival ratio – a measure of the impact of cancer on life expectancy that compares the survival of people diagnosed with cancer to the survival of a comparable group of people in the general population. Five-‐year relative survival ratio is the preferred measure for assessing population-‐based cancer survival.