According to a study carried out by the National Institute for Public Health Surveillance (Invs), the National Cancer Institute (INCa), the Hospitals of Lyon and the Francim cancer registry, the number of new cases for the main blood cancers has more than doubled between 1980 and 2012.
In 2012, the number of new cases of malignant hemopathies (blood cancers) in mainland France was estimated at 35,000 (19,400 in men and 15,600 in women). The four most common cancers are multiple myeloma / plasmacytoma (4,888 new cases), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (4,464), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (4096) and myelodysplastic syndromes (4,059).
According to the study authors, the number of lymphomas and of leukemia has gradually increased by 1 to 2% per year since the 1980s. An increase due, in large part, to the aging of the population. These cancers are in fact diagnosed in men between 62 and 78 years old and in women between 64 and 81 years old.
But the surge in the number of cancer cases could also be explained by the increase in risk factors for these diseases “the causes of which have yet to be studied” explain the authors of the study. “The bottom of the question remains to understand why certain forms of cancer (in particular hematologic malignancies) have a sharply increasing incidence” explain the experts from Invs.
However, the document does not provide data on the mortality associated with these cancers.
