An estimated 21,000 British Columbians will be diagnosed with cancer this year.

Prostate and breast cancer continue to be the most commonly diagnosed cancers in men and women respectively. Lung cancer and colorectal cancer are the second and third most common cancer diagnosis in both men and women.

Compared to the rest of Canada, British Columbians experience the lowest rates of cancer incidence.

An estimated 9,000 British Columbians will die from cancer this year. Lung cancer continues to be the number one cause of cancer death in both men and women.

However, we are making progress. British Columbians experience the lowest rates of cancer mortality when compared to the rest of Canada.

And, a recent study in the journal The Lancet showed that, when compared to 12 jurisdictions in six countries with similar wealth and healthcare structures, British Columbia has the highest one- and five-year survival rates for ovarian cancer and the best five-year survival rates for breast cancer.

We are optimistic that cancer is moving towards becoming a chronic but manageable disease.

Based on 2009 incidence rates, 40% of Canadian women and 45% of men will develop cancer during their lifetimes. An estimated 1 out of every 4 Canadians are expected to die from cancer.

More men than women are diagnosed with cancer, but the gap between the two sexes has narrowed in recent years (51.7 per cent of cases are in men vs. 48.3 per cent of women).

The death rate for all cancers combined is declining for males in most age groups and for females under 70.



On the Internet this report is available at http://www.cancer.ca and http://www.ncic.cancer.ca .