Cancer Prevalence Flashcards
(47 cards)
What is Cancer?
A group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells
What can occur if spreading doesn’t stop?
Untreated spreading of abnormal cells can result in death (not always the case) this can take a long time
What is Prevalence?
A measure of the proportion of people in a population affected with a particular disease at a given time
What is Incidence?
The number of new disease cases reported in a population over a certain period of time
Is prevalence or incidence of cancer more spoken about?
Incidence of cancer is more spoken about as new cancer over a period of time continues to arise
Example of prevalence
How many people have cancer in a class?
Example of incidence
How many people have had cancer this year?
What is a cancer survivor?
Anyone who’s survived cancer after diagnosis.
What is one type of cancer prevention?
Screening - parts of the body are screened to try and find/catch cancer early
Types of cancer treatment
- Radiation
- Chemotherapy
- Surgery
- Immunotherapy
etc…
Two directions cancer survivors can go after treatment attempts
- Rehabilitation - the road to recovery to survival
- Palliation - end of life care if treatment is unsuccessful
What is staging?
Describes the extent to which the cancer has spread (how big the abnormal cell growth/tumor is)
Why is staging important to determine?
It’s essential for deciding what kind of treatment to do going forward. Different stages may require more or less intensive treatment options
What is the TNM staging system?
T = Extent of primary tumor
N = Lymph node involvement (the more involved, the worse)
M = Absence or presence of metastases (spread) / the extent to which the cancer has spread to other parts of the body
What are the different stages of cancer?
I, II, III, and IV
What is stage I cancer?
It’s superficial, limited to the organ of origin with no lymph node involvement and no metastases
What is stage IV cancer?
Most advanced stage with distant metastases present in other parts of the body
What is “In Situ”?
When cancer is only present in one layer of cells where it developed (Tis)
- Easy to treat but not commonly found because it’s unnoticeable
- EX: breast cancer only found in one layer of the breast
What is the incidence of cancer in Canada?
Huge and growing: Approximately 247,100 new cases in 2024
What is the prevalence of cancer in Canada?
1.5 million survivors living in Canada in 2018
Why is Canada and the U.S world leaders for cancer cases?
- Other countries may lack technology where they cannot detect cancer or report the number of cases
- Polluted environments increase lung cancer risks compared to non polluted areas/countries
- Countries may be susceptible to more common cancer cases than others (breast cancer may be common in North America and not Africa)
What disease did cancer overtake to become the #1 leading cause of death in Canada?
Heart disease, since 2020
Cancer 24.4% vs heart disease 17.5%
Why is cancer the #1 leading cause of death in Canada over heart disease?
- We’ve become better at treating heart disease
- more types of cancer are arising, more research is needed
- cancer is incurable
Who is most a risk of getting cancer?
Anyone can get cancer!!
- 90% of diagnoses are in people 50+ years
