Revising cancer incidence in a Central European country: a Hungarian nationwide study between 2011–2019 based on a health insurance fund database.
Zoltán Kiss, Tamás G. Szabó, Csaba Polgár, Zsolt Horváth, Péter Nagy, Ibolya Fabián, Valéria Kovács, György Surján, Zsófia Barcza, István Kenessey, András Wéber, István Wittmann, Gergő Attila Molnár, Eszter Gyöngyösi, Angéla Benedek, Eugenia Karamousouli, Zsolt Abonyi-Tóth, Renáta Bertókné Tamás, Diána Viktória Fürtös, Krisztina Bogos, Judit Moldvay, Gabriella Gálffy, Lilla Tamási, Veronika Müller, Zoárd Tibor Krasznai, Gyula Ostoros, Zsolt Pápai-Székely, Anikó Maráz, Gabriella Branyiczkiné Géczy, Lászlóné Hilbert, László Tamás Berki, György Rokszin and Zoltán Vokó
Background: The nationwide HUN-CANCER EPI study examined cancer incidence and mortality rates in Hungary from 2011 to 2019.
Methods: Using data from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO), our retrospective study analyzed newly diagnosed malignancies between Jan 1, 2011, and Dec 31, 2019. Age standardized incidence and mortality rates were calculated for all and for different tumor types using both the 1976 and 2013 European Standard Populations (ESP).
Findings: The number of newly diagnosed cancer cases decreased from 60,554 to 56,675 between 2011–2019. Age-standardized incidence rates were much lower in 2018, than previously estimated (475.5 vs. 580.5/100,000 person-years [PYs] in males and 383.6 vs. 438.5/100,000 PYs in females; ESP 1976). All-site cancer incidence showed a mean annual decrease of 1.9% (95% CI: 2.4%-1.4%) in men and 1.0% (95% CI:1.42%-0.66%) in women, parallel to mortality trends (-1.6% in males and -0.6% in females; ESP 2013). In 2018, the highest age-standardized incidence rates were found for lung (88.3), colorectal (82.2), and prostate cancer (62.3) in men, and breast (104.6), lung (47.7), and colorectal cancer (45.8) in women. The most significant decreases in incidence rates were observed for stomach (4.7%), laryngeal (4.4%), and gallbladder cancers (3.5%), with parallel decreases in mortality rates (3.9%, 2.7% and 3.2%, respectively).
Interpretation: We found a lower incidence of newly diagnosed cancer cases for Hungary compared to previous estimates, and decreasing trends in cancer incidence and mortality, in line with global findings and the declining prevalence of smoking.