Coronavirus and covid-19 have been filling public space for more than half a year. However, experts are increasingly pointing out that diseases, which are much more risky not only in terms of numbers, deserve attention and, above all, an emphasis on prevention.
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One of them is lung cancer.
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“We are talking about a killer who has 20 times more potential so far than what covid-19 showed here,” says Ladislav Dušek, director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (ÚZIS). In recent months, his office has been declining in connection with the numbers surrounding coronavirus. However, it monitors a number of other medical areas and diseases.
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“Those diseases are incomparable. Because we’re talking about a contagious respiratory disease that may be activated during the season. In any case, to put it vulgarly, this tumor – the only one we are talking about – kills up to 6,000 people a year. And so far the covid-19 has about 350 people on its account for the whole time. If we talk about all cancers, it’s 30,000 a year. Therefore, I dare say, although I am a bit tabloid, that covid-19 does not and will not have cancer in the Czech Republic, “said director Dušek for Seznam Zprávy.
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No chance of rescue
In the Czech Republic, lung cancer has long been one of the most common causes of death. According to pneumologist Martina Vašáková, unfortunately, the prognosis of patients is very poor – for most people the problem is revealed only in the late stages. The first symptoms are easily mistaken for another and less serious disease.
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“Up to 80 percent of patients are diagnosed in stages that are very unpleasant prognostically and that do not allow long-term survival,” adds Vašáková.
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According to data from the National Cancer Registry, about 6,500 patients with lung cancer are diagnosed each year, which is about eight percent of all cancers. Every year, more than 5,600 patients die in direct connection with such a tumor.
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At the same time, there are clear trends around the numbers – although the patients are mostly men, women have started to catch up quickly in recent years.
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While the proportion of men suffering from lung cancer is declining, the proportion of women is increasing (source: IHIS).
“The Czech Republic is no exception against all other developed countries, the trend will undoubtedly continue,” Ladislav Dušek described. Why is women’s health deteriorating so rapidly in this direction?
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“All the work I’ve read, and I note that I’m not a specialist in this type of cancer, shows that women have started to smoke more. This is also documented in surveys in various parts of Europe. Of course, the tumor won’t develop in a year, now that we’re seeing an increase, we’re talking about ladies over 50. So it’s a phenomenon that started 20 or 30 years ago, maybe even earlier, “said the head of IHIS.
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However, data on lung cancer are also attracting attention when looking at the map of the Czech Republic. The west and northwest of Bohemia clearly emerges from it as a locality with an increased concentration of cases.
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Northwest and west Bohemia report significantly more cases of cancer than the rest of the country (source: IHIS).
“One of the explanations is a worse lifestyle and more smokers. In some regions, we even have a significantly higher number of pregnant smokers who smoke during pregnancy. Then works are known which attribute this in part to a larger number of contaminated industries and operations or to the purity of the air. I just analyzed data from Vysočina and Zlín. There are demonstrably significantly fewer tumors. And also there we see a smaller number of smokers in all the research that is being done. There will certainly be something to that correlation. There is a very abysmal difference between the Zlín and Ústí nad Labem regions, “the director further described.
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Three billion euros
According to experts, unfavorable trends can be fundamentally reversed by early detection of health complications and their detection at an early stage. Therefore, a special program for early detection of lung cancer is currently being prepared in the Czech Republic, which will target mainly at-risk groups – ie long-term smokers.
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“A pilot program for early detection of lung cancer will target an estimated 30,000 high-risk people between the ages of 55 and 75 who smoke at least one pack of cigarettes a day. Both pulmonary and general practitioners would send them to radiological workplaces of complex oncological centers for examination with the help of low-dose CT. From this step, we promise to capture tumor growth in time, in a significant part of the at-risk population. We assume that we will discover the tumor in the first phase in 650 of them. In total, the screening could cover up to 390,000 people in the future, “says Professor Vašáková. According to her, up to 90 percent of patients become ill precisely because of smoking, whether active or passive.
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According to Dušek, the program could start as a pilot next year, and the examined will be addressed by general practitioners.
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The Czech Republic is not the only one facing the problem of late diagnosis of lung cancer, so screening for at-risk groups is recommended by the European Respiratory Society. Illness is a huge burden on the economies of countries. According to an analysis by The Economist Intelligence Unit, which compares the policies of 27 European countries in the fight against lung cancer, even the treatment of lung cancer costs more than the treatment of breast, colon and prostate cancer combined. In Europe, researchers estimate the cost of caring for lung cancer patients at more than € 3 billion a year.
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