Cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of mortality: 11,000 Israelis died from the serious illness in 2018. In the same year, 31,000 Israelis developed cancer, 27,000 of them with invasive cancer (when the tumor penetrates the tissues and spreads in the body). These difficult numbers emerge from data from the Ministry of Health published ahead of International Cancer Day starting today (Thursday).
The data also show that among men – prostate cancer and lung cancer were the most common, Whereas among women breast cancer was the most common. It also shows that the most common cause of death among men was lung cancer, and among women – breast cancer. The risk of cancer mortality is higher in men than in women.
The bright spot is that in the last two decades, between 1996 and 2018, there has been a significant decrease, accumulating to tens of percent in cancer mortality, in all population groups.
Prof. Little Keinan Boker, director of the Center for Disease Control at the Ministry of Health, explains: “In an international comparison, the rate of new cases of cancer diagnosed in Israel is higher than the world average. On the other hand, Israel is relatively low – 45, among the 50 countries with the highest rates. In terms of cancer mortality rates, Israel is in 89th place among the countries with the highest rates in the world, which implies a relatively high use of early detection of common diseases and effective, up-to-date and accessible treatment, within the health basket, for all residents. “
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The main cancers, which are responsible for more than 50% of all cases of men in Israel, included prostate cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (with abnormal cells not found in other lymphomas) and bladder cancer.. However, among Jewish men, prostate cancer accounted for about 20% of all invasive tumors compared with 11% among Arab men, and invasive melanoma was responsible for 5% of cases among Jewish men, while among Arabs this tumor is very rare (about 1%) .
Also, among Arab men, lung cancer accounted for about 19% of all invasive tumors, compared with 11% in Jewish men – mainly due to a higher rate of smokers.
Among women, breast tumors accounted for about one-third of all tumors, and colon and rectal tumors accounted for between 10% and 11% of all tumors. Lung cancer, thyroid cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and uterine cancer were also among the most common tumors in women.