Health | HK women to face greater risk of cancer

Women in Hong Kong will be more at risk to developing cancer over the next decade than their male counterparts, according to a report from the South China Morning Post (SCMP), which obtained the forecast in an undisclosed prediction made by the public hospitals’ Cancer Registry in the HKSAR.
Between men and women, the number of Hong Kong residents to be affected by the disease in 2025 is expected to rise 30 percent higher than in 2012. However, it is women who will be disproportionately affected, experiencing a 36 percent rise, compared with a 26 percent increase for men.
Across the two genders, the total number of cancer cases is expected to reach 34,980 in 2025 – comprised of 17,745 females and 17,235 males – up 30 percent from the 26,758 cases in 2012.

A pedestrian walks wearing a mask in the Central district of Hong Kong. Poor air quality is a factor associated not only with cancer but also with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

The number of genital cancer cases is projected to rise by 56 percent, followed by a 44 percent increase in breast cancer and 26 percent in ovarian cancer.
Cases of other types of cancer are also generally expected to increase in the next decade, but those caused by infections are contrarily predicted to decrease thanks to the development of better vaccinations.
Among women in the Greater China region, the most common forms of cancer are breast, lung and bronchus, stomach colorectal and esophagus, together accounting for nearly 60 percent of all cases. Breast cancer accounts for 15 percent of all new cancers among China’s female population.
According to the SCMP, the higher rates among women are being attributed to their longer expected lifespan as well as other reproductive and hormonal risk factors, such as receiving hormone therapy, not having children, and shorter average breastfeeding periods.
“The prediction is very useful in policy making,” Professor Anne Lee of the University of Hong Kong’s clinical oncology department told the SCMP. “Cancer is a very costly disease to treat, and 90 percent of the patients are being treated at public hospitals.”
“The government needs to make plans, in terms of facilities, manpower and financial budget, to cope with the demand,” she added.

Macau: Cancer incidence stable

Macau’s cancer incidence rate has not recorded an increasing tendency over recent years, according to data provided by the Health Bureau to the Times in 2015.
However, doctor Dulce Maia Trindade, specialist in public health mentioned that the region has a growing population and it is expected that more people will suffer from cancer.
As in Hong Kong, Macau suffers from urban pressure and the cancer incidence rate is also linked to citizens’ lifestyles, Trindade, told the Times in 2015. “The scenario could have been different in Macau, a city with a rather small population and privileged in terms of resources, having also available a proximity healthcare network and dynamic associations that enrich Macau’s quality [in terms of healthcare],” she recalled.

4.3 million new cases in china

A recent report cited by the American Cancer Society estimates that only in 2015 there were 4.3 million new cancer cases in China and more than 2.8 million cancer related deaths. According to the report, lung cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in all China. Both incidence and mortality rate for all cancers is about double in men (165.9 per 100,000) than in women (88.8 per 100,000) and with a higher incidence for the disease in rural areas when compared to urban areas.