Backgrounds: The Czech Republic is ranked among those countries with the highest cancer burden in Europe and worldwide. The purpose of this study is to summarize long-term trends in the cancer burden and to provide up-to-date estimates of incidence and mortality rates from 2007.
Material and methods: The Czech National Cancer Registry (CNCR) was instituted in 1977 and contains information over a 30-year period of standardized registration covering 100% of cancer diagnoses and the entire Czech population. The analysis of CNCR is supported by demographic data of the Czech Republic and by the Death Records Database as civil registration systems. The epidemiology of malignant tumours in the Czech population is available online at www.svod.cz.
Results: All neoplasms, including non-melanoma skin cancer, reached a crude incidence rate of almost 736 cases per 100,000 men and 648 cases per 100,000 women in 2007. The annual mortality rate exceeded 263 deaths per 100,000 population; each year, more than 27,000 persons die of cancer. The overall incidence of malignancies has increased during the last decade with growth index + 26.4% (1997-2007) while the mortality rate has stabilized over this time span (growth index in 1977-2007: -2.5%). Consequently, the prevalence has significantly increased in the registration period and in 2007 it exceeded 400,000 cases. In addition to the demographic ageing of the Czech population, the cancer burden is increased by the growing incidence of multiple primary tumours (recently more than 11% of the total incidence). The most frequent diagnoses include colorectal cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer. Although some neoplasms are increasingly diagnosed at an early stage (e.g. proportion of stage I + II in female breast cancer: 71.9%, skin melanoma: 81.3%), in general early diagnostics is insufficient in the Czech Republic. This is the case even for highly prevalent colorectal carcinoma (only 43.2% of incident cases recently diagnosed at stage I or II).
Conclusion: The Czech Republic is well equipped with high-quality and functional facilities for collecting and analysing population-based data on malignant tumours. The data survey has enabled the priorities of cancer management in the Czech Republic to be defined. This will undoubtedly lead to a sustained reduction in late diagnosed cases and a reduction in the remarkable regional differences in diagnostic efficiency.