Colon cancer not most common cancer in Taiwan, first time since 2006

Taipei, Nov. 10 (CNA) Statistics indicate there was a dip in the number of new cancer cases in Taiwan in 2021, while colorectal cancer was not the most common cancer for the first time in 15 years, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday.

In 2021, 121,762 new cancer cases were diagnosed among Taiwanese citizens, a decline of 217 from the 121,979 cases reported in 2020, according to a cancer registration report released by the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) under the ministry in the day.

The reported case numbers mean one cancer diagnosis was made every 4 minutes and 19 seconds in 2021, the same as in 2020, while the median age for a cancer diagnosis remained 64.

A total of 16,880 cases of lung cancer were reported in 2021, topping the list as the most common cancer in Taiwan, a position held by colon cancer from 2006-2020, the report showed.

It indicated that a total of 16,238 new cases of colon cancer were reported in Taiwan in 2021, a drop of 591 from 2020.

Rounding out the top 10 most common types of cancer from third to ninth were breast cancer, liver cancer, oral cancer, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, stomach cancer and skin cancer, unchanged from 2020.

Pancreatic cancer was ranked the 10th most common cancer with 3,190 cases, 178 more than 2020 when it was ranked 12th, the HPA said.

According to the HPA, the number of cancer patients by age-standardized incidence rate was 330.8 for every 100,000 men in 2021, or 5.4 fewer than in 2020, and 288.4 for every 100,000 women, a year-on-year decrease of 4.4.

Split by sex, 63,723 of the 121,762 diagnoses made in 2021 were male and 58,039 were female.

Among different types of cancer, the standardized incidence rates of oral cancer and esophageal cancer in men was 10.4 and 11.4 times higher than those of women, respectively, the HPA observed, adding that chewing betel nut, smoking and drinking could lead to an increase in the incidence of the diseases.

Colon cancer, lung cancer, and oral cancer were the most common types of cancer among males, with breast cancer, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer the three most common types among females, the same as in 2020.