New stats from the Canadian Cancer Society suggest a 40 per cent increase in cancer cases over the next 15 years.
Surgical oncologist Dr. Carman Giacomantonoio says the numbers are a reflection of an aging society.
“The biggest risk factor for developing cancer is age,” says Giacomantonoio. “So the longer you keep your population around, the more likely you are to see cancer incidents grow.”
The number of Canadians aged 65 and older will grow from one in eight, to one in four by 2030.
Dr. Giacomantonoio says that while we can’t control our age, there are things we do have control over.
Upwards of 50 percent of cancer is preventable with lifestyle change.
“Smoking and obesity are two of the socially challenging factors, but definitely impactful factors. Alcohol is another factor.”
Between 2005 and 2030 lung cancer cases will increase 46 per cent, female breast cancer 55 per cent, colorectal cancer 79 per cent and prostate cancer cases will increase 97 per cent.
While the numbers can be shocking, Kelly Cull of the Canadian Cancer Society Nova Scotia says the news is not all bad.
“Sixty-three per cent of people who are diagnosed with cancer are now surviving and so that's a huge jump from where we were, for example, in 1940 when 25 per cent of people would survive a cancer diagnosis,” says Cull.
Still, governments, health care services, academics and policy makers are preparing for the surge.
“The thrive plan, which tries to make healthy eating and physical activity part of everyday life for Nova Scotians, as an example,” says Cull.
There are also screening programs and awareness campaigns, but Cancer Care Nova Scotia says it’s also about preparing the system and that work is starting now.
“There are many great initiatives underway…for those individuals who do get cancer, despite our best effort to prevent the disease, how can we make sure that we are diagnosed early, have access to the best possible treatments as close to home as possible,” says Cull.
Work has begun at the Canadian Cancer Society as well. The society is expanding its lodge that gives a home away from home for families receiving cancer treatment in Halifax.
“So we're expanding the number of beds that we have so that we can accommodate the increased need that we're going to experience, and also increasing our capacity to deliver programming to cancer patients and families,” says Cull.
Cancer survivor Bill Campbell says his experience with the disease has given him a whole new perspective.
“When you go through that process, through that shock and surviving, and you know, working at surviving, it just changes perspective of everything. Nothing’s quite as big of a deal as it was before,” says Campbell.
Campbell says early detection was key in his survival.
“I was getting regular PSA tests and the last one I had was a huge spike and that led to a biopsy and other work,” says Campbell.
He's hoping today's stats encourage others to get tested more frequently.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Jackie Foster
