Cases are increasing year after year. This is documented by the Higher Institute of Health and the Regional Health Agency, and the National Cancer Registry attests to it. Oncological diseases are growing, even in the Arezzo area. National estimates speak of an increase in the next two years of 1.3 percent in new diagnoses for men and 0.6 for women. While the age of new patients is decreasing. On the one hand it is thanks to screening, which is increasingly frequent and reliable, which manages to detect pathologies early, on the other hand there is a worldwide phenomenon of diseases, which classically affect the more advanced age groups, which also manifest themselves in patients under 40.
“The Tuscany Region and the Arezzo area are reflected in the national trend”, confirms the doctor Simonetta Magnanini of the South East Tuscany Local Health Authority. “In the past, the Arezzo area and the Casentino area in particular stood out for a significant incidence of gastric cancer: then fortunately there was a change in lifestyles which allowed the number of cases to be narrowed down. Today that data is within the national average”.
The regional case history
“The burden of individual pathologies varies according to gender and age” we read from the Ispro Toscana survey which took into consideration the period of time from 2013 to 2017. In the region the tumors most frequently diagnosed in men under 50 are cutaneous melanoma (16% of all new diagnoses), testicular cancer (10%) and thyroid cancer (9%); among adult men (50-69 years) and elderly men (70+ years), the most frequently diagnosed cancer is prostate cancer (20% and 18% respectively), followed by lung cancer (14% and 17%) and colorectal cancer (11%). % and 14%). Among women, the most widespread cancer pathology remains that of the breast which affects, among other things, all age groups (39% of cancer diagnoses before the age of 50, 34% between 50 and 69 years, 21% after the age of 70) . “Among young women, thyroid (15%) and melanoma (11%) come in second and third place, while in adult (50-69 years) and elderly (70+ years) women, colorectal cancer comes in second place (9% and 15% respectively), and in third that of the lung (8% and 9% respectively)”.
So in Arezzo: pathologies, hospitalizations, mortality
Ispro also reveals that every year in Tuscany alone around 25 thousand tumors are diagnosed. And in Arezzo? In the territory of the former ASL 8, there are 607 diagnoses for men and 477 for women.
Instead, it is the regional health company that tracks hospitalization and mortality data. For hospitalizations, from 2019 to 2023 in the city of Arezzo the hospitalization rate was 8.81 per thousand. The municipality with the highest rate was Ortignano Raggiolo (11.63 per thousand) and the one with the lowest rate was Caprese Michelangelo (6.08).
If diagnoses increase, mortality decreases – thanks to increasingly appropriate treatments and preventive screenings. In the period 2018-2020, 233.7 people died from these pathologies in the Arezzo area. The heaviest figure comes from Valdarno, where the deaths were 236.74. While in Valtiberina the deaths were 206.34 per 100 thousand inhabitants.
A downward trend, that of mortality. This is demonstrated by the large area data where in the two-year period 2009/2011 the deaths were 257.95 while in the two-year period 2018/2020 they dropped to 232.77.
Prevention
“In Italy the group in which tumors are most often diagnosed – explains the oncologist – is the over 50s. But in recent years the feeling is that the trend is changing. If other countries where the young population is more numerous and therefore they have already had the opportunity to ascertain this phenomenon. We observe and study carefully. It is no coincidence, however, that in our country breast cancer screening has been brought forward by 5 years”.
Prevention also plays a fundamental role: “From 2007 to 2019, 268 thousand deaths were avoided in Italy. Together with the giant strides made by oncology, prevention which starts from early diagnoses and leads to correct lifestyles, reduces mortality, thanks to the progress made in oncology, thanks to health prevention, early diagnosis and screening”.
Because 40 percent of cancers could be avoided with correct lifestyles. “No smoking, no sedentary lifestyle, pay attention to your diet and alcohol. It has been established that alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer in women. There is a threshold level for the consumption of these drinks: it is two alcohol units in males and one in women, which corresponds to 12 grams of alcohol, i.e. a can of beer or a glass of wine”.
