Cancer incidence and mortality trends in young adults in Metropolitan Lima young adults, 1990-2012

A surveillance study of cancer incidence and mortality among young adults in Costa Rica

Background

There has been an increase in certain cancers among young adults (YA) aged 20-39, particularly in Latin America. This is the first study to examine cancer incidence and mortality in YA in Costa Rica, focusing on sex-specific patterns.

Methods

Invasive cancer cases (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) in YA from 2006 to 2015 were obtained from the Costa Rican National Registry of Tumors. Utilising SEER∗Stat software, age-standardized incidence rates (IRs) and incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were calculated. Trends and annual percent changes (APCs) in IRs were estimated using the Joinpoint regression analysis program. Cancer deaths from 2000 to 2021 were obtained from the Costa Rican National Institute of Statistics and Census. Age-standardised mortality rates were calculated using STATA®17.

Findings

YA comprised 10.7% of all invasive cancer cases diagnosed from 2006 to 2015. The age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) of invasive cancer in YA was 50.9/100,000 person-years. The ASIR was twofold higher for females compared to males (IRR = 2.03, 95% CI:1.94, 2.13). This difference increased with age, peaking in the 35-39-year age group (IRR = 2.84, 95% CI:2.62, 3.10). Thyroid, breast, and cervical cancer were the most common in females. Testicular cancer was the most common in males. Leading causes of cancer-related deaths included cervical and breast cancer in females and stomach and brain/nervous system cancer in males.

Interpretation

The study highlights sex-specific patterns in cancer incidence and mortality among YA in Costa Rica to increase understanding and improve cancer outcomes in this age group.

Funding

This study was funded by the Intramural Research Program of the National Cancer Institute.

Breast cancer and cervical cancer: a comparison of the period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic impacted cancer health care in several countries, with delays in the detection and treatment of breast and cervical cancer. The objective of this study is to analyze and compare the screening, diagnosis and treatment of breast and cervical cancer in the pre-COVID period and during the COVID-19 period.

METHODS

Cross-sectional study with secondary data collected from the Mortality Information System (SIM), Hospital Information System (SIH), Ambulatory Information System (SIA) and the Oncology Panel (PO) of breast cancer notifications with ICD C50.0 to C50.9 and cervix ICD C53.0 to C53.9, The analyzed period before the pandemic was from March 1 to October 1, 2019, and during the pandemic from March 1 to October 1, 2020. The period from 2013 to 2022 was also analyzed with the same information, including the number of diagnoses, treatments, and deaths from breast cancer and cervical cancer. The study population consisted of Brazilian women aged 25 to 70 years. In order to compare categorical variables between periods, the Chi-Square or Fisher's Exact tests, and Mann-Whitney U tests were applied, and the Poisson Regression model was applied to model the number of reported cases of COVID-19 and the amount of procedures.

RESULTS

There was a decrease in the number of mammograms and cytopathological exams during COVID-19, as well as a decrease in cases of breast and cervical cancer. The Poisson regression showed that the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases caused a decrease in the number of breast cytopathological examinations, cervical-vaginal cytopathological examinations/microflora and screening, diagnosis, initiation of treatment for breast cancer and deaths from this disease. Meanwhile, in some regions of Brazil, as the number of Covid-19 increased, there was a significantly increase in the number of mammograms performed and cervical cancer diagnoses.

CONCLUSIONS

The COVID-19 period in 2020 significantly impacted screening, diagnosis, treatment for breast and cervical cancer.

Impact of cancer awareness campaigns in Peru: a 5-year Google Trends analysis

Background

The aim of this research was to characterise the interest on the most frequent cancers in Peru through Google Trends, its geographic and temporal relationship with massive awareness campaigns.

Methods

A temporal trends analysis for the last 5 years was carried out, comparing the Relative Search Volume (RSV) with the dates of mass cancer awareness campaigns in Peru. Google Trends application was used to evaluate the interest in the topics: breast, prostate, cervical stomach and colorectal cancer between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2020, expressed in RSV. The annual RSV for each neoplasm was compared, as well as its annual variation using the Kruskal-Wallis test. The correlation between the RSV and the estimated incidence for each province was measured using the Spearman test.

Results

The topics with the highest RSV were breast (median: 20, range: 6-100) and prostate cancer (median: 28, range: 9-48). The topic 'breast cancer' showed a cyclical punctual increase in October, its awareness month. Searches for cervical, stomach and colorectal cancer were smaller and did not show peaks of interest. It was observed that the RSV was variable when compared with previous years (p < 0.05 for all the evaluated topics). Geographically, different provincial configurations of interest were observed according to neoplasia. When correlating the RSV with the incidence by province, a non-significant positive correlation (p > 0.05) was found for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer.

Conclusions

This study suggests a positive temporal correlation between RSV and awareness cancer campaigns in Peru specially to breast cancer and, to a lesser extent, prostate cancer. Significant variations of interest were demonstrated for each neoplasm among the evaluated years. No significant correlation was found between the incidence rate and the average RSV among Peruvian provinces.

Correlation between the prevalence of T-cell lymphomas and alcohol consumption

Background and aims

Alcohol is a psychoactive substance that causes dependence, with many thousands of years in the history of mankind, being widely used in different cultures. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, alcohol is involved in the development of cancer, being directly associated with it. Considering that alcohol is involved in the initiation and dissemination of gastrointestinal malignancies, the objective of the study was to assess its role in the pathogenesis of T-cell lymphomas, as well as its possible correlation with chronic consumption.

Methods

The patient cohort was compiled from the Sixth Medical Center of the People's Liberation Army Navy General Hospital in Beijing, China. A total of 30 patients matched the criteria and were enrolled in the study. Statistical analysis of the raw data was performed using R Statistics version R 3.5.1. released on the 29.08.2018.

Results

Our data demonstrate that the most common extranodal involvment of T-cell lymphoma patients is represented in decreasing order by bone marrow, peritoneum, rhino-oropharynx and the liver-biliary system. Nodal involvement is mainly represented in decreasing order by the laterocervical, axillary, mediastinal and inguinal regions.

Conclusions

These findings may be of value in further research and practical/clinical settings. Fever is the most common clinical feature and was present in most studied patients.