Romania records cancer mortality rates 48% higher than the EU average

Romania registers cancer mortality rates 48% higher than the European Union average among people aged between 15 and 64, said the representatives of the Federation of Associations of Cancer Patients (FABC), in a statement sent on Friday on the occasion of World Cancer Day (February 4).

According to the FABC, the mortality rate among men between the ages of 15 and 64 was 64% higher than the EU average and 27% higher among women, with cancer causing 46,779 deaths in 2021.

HPV infection is involved in 99% of cervical cancer cases. In addition, the studies of recent years reveal the role of HPV infection as an important risk factor for some ENT (ears, nose, throat) cancers, especially for those with oropharyngeal location - tonsils, the soft part of the roof of the mouth/soft palate, base of the tongue. They are caused by chronic HPV infection in a proportion of 70%, the release explains.

"Romania has made progress in the prevention, diagnosis and care of cancer in the last five years, including from the perspective of the consensus adoption of a National Plan to Combat Cancer and by increasing access to treatments considered standard of care, and reducing lung cancer mortality is a the first evidence in this regard. We still have a long way to go to narrow the gaps that oncology patients in Romania encounter in comparison with patients in the rest of Europe. Nationality, age, health education, income, where we live, must not affect the way we have access to medical services, to the prevention and treatment of cancer," stated FABC chairman, Cezar Irimia, quoted in the press release.

Annually, the lives affected or lost by cancer mean losses in the country's economy both by affecting the productivity of patients and their relatives, which, cumulatively, currently reach up to 3% of Romania's GDP, FABC mentioned.