Anne Cowppli‐Bony

OBJECTIVE: To analyze trends in cancer incidence and mortality (France, 1990-2018), with a focus on men-women disparities. METHODS: Incidence data stemmed from cancer registries (FRANCIM) and mortality data from national statistics (CépiDc). Incidence and mortality rates were modelled using bidimensional penalized splines of age and year (at diagnosis and at death, respectively). Trends in age-standardized rates were summarized by the average annual percent changes (AAPC) for all-cancers combined, 19 solid tumors, and 8 subsites. Sex gaps were indicated using male-to-female rate ratios (relative difference) and male-to-female rate differences (absolute difference) in 1990 and 2018, for incidence and mortality, respectively. RESULTS: For all-cancers, the sex gap narrowed over 1990-2018 in incidence (1.6 to 1.2) and mortality (2.3 to 1.7). The largest decreases of the male-to-female incidence rate ratio were for cancers of the lung (9.5 to 2.2), lip - oral cavity - pharynx (10.9 to 3.1), esophagus (12.6 to 4.5) and larynx (17.1 to 7.1). Mixed trends emerged in lung and oesophageal cancers, probably explained by differing risk factors for the two main histological subtypes. Sex incidence gaps narrowed due to increasing trends in men and women for skin melanoma (0.7 to 1, due to initially higher rates in women), cancers of the liver (7.4 to 4.4) and pancreas (2.0 to 1.4). Sex incidence gaps narrowed for colon-rectum (1.7 to 1.4), urinary bladder (6.9 to 6.1) and stomach (2.7 to 2.4) driven by decreasing trends among men. Other cancers showed similar increasing incidence trends in both sexes leading to stable sex gaps: thyroid gland (0.3 to 0.3), kidney (2.2 to 2.4) and central nervous system (1.4 to 1.5). CONCLUSION: In France in 2018, while men still had higher risks of developing or dying from most cancers, the sex gap was narrowing. Efforts should focus on avoiding risk factors (e.g., smoking) and developing etiological studies to understand currently unexplained increasing trends.

This study provides updates of net survival (NS) estimates at 5, 10, and 15 years as well as survival trends for 35 solid cancers in France using data from 19 population-based cancer registries. The study considered all cases of solid cancer diagnosed between 1989 and 2010 in patients older than 15 years of age who were actively followed up until 30 June 2013. NS was estimated using the Pohar-Perme method. The age-standardized NS used the international cancer survival standard weights. The 5-year age-standardized NSs ranged from 4% (pleural mesothelioma) to 93% (prostate) in men and from 10% (pancreas) to 97% (thyroid) in women. The 10-year age-standardized NSs ranged from 2% (pleural mesothelioma) in both sexes to 95% (testis) in men and 91% (thyroid) in women. The most frequent cancers (namely, breast and prostate cancers) had the highest NSs: 87 and 93% at 5 years and 78 and 84% at 10 years, respectively. Several cancers (especially lung, pancreas, and liver cancer) had very poor prognoses (5-year NSs under 20%). Fifteen-year NSs remained high for testis cancer. In most cancers, 5- and 10-year age-standardized NSs increased between 1989 and 2010. Advanced age was associated with a poor prognosis and little improvement in survival. The increases in cancer survival are probably related to earlier diagnosis and therapeutic advances over the last decade. However, poor prognoses are still found in some alcohol-related and tobacco-related cancers and in elderly patients, highlighting the need for more prevention, diagnosis, and treatment efforts.