Incidence and time trends of cancer in Cyprus (1998-2008)

The island country of Cyprus maintains a third party validated, population-based cancer registry, which allows for an in-depth study of cancer incidence and trends over time in a culturally and environmentally unique setting. Using eleven years of collected data (1998-2008), this publication represents the first in-depth look at the cancer burden of Cyprus. Analysis conducted in cooperation with the Cyprus Cancer Registry, resulted in sex-specific, age-adjusted incidence rates and time trends for the 26 most incident cancer sites in Cyprus. This study revealed an overall annual cancer rate among males of 219.85, and that prostate (51.21), lung (26.87), colorectal (25.17), bladder (17.84) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (10.68) were the most incident types (all rates per 100,000). Among females, there was an overall annual rate of 199.17, and breast (72.29), colorectal (19.03), uterine (12.92), thyroid (13.61) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (7.92) were the most incident types (all rates per 100,000). There were 16 sex-specific cancer types that indicated statistically significant increasing incidence trends over time, and no types for which the rate was significantly decreasing. During the study period, thyroid cancer illustrated rapid increases in rates. Results were then compared to other European registries representing populations with similar environmental, genetic, and lifestyle factors. This analysis revealed that the overall cancer incidence in Cyprus is comparatively low, and given the known environmental risk factors in Cyprus, the low rate of lung cancer invites further study.