Cancer ‘atlas’ pinpoints areas of high incidence

The National Cancer Registry today published the first ‘atlas of cancer’ in Ireland.

The atlas gives detailed geographical information on the distribution of all  common cancers in Ireland between 1994 to 2003.

The findings are not suggesting that the level of incidence for cancer is down to a particular location but instead are likely to reflect socio-economic differences in population, exposure to risk factors such as tobacco, and uptake of cancer screening.

Outside the urban areas, regions of high incidence in non-melanoma skin cancer were observed along the west coast of Donegal.

The atlas showed relatively modest geographical variation in breast cancer.

The areas of highest incidence were in the major urban areas, with the exception of Limerick.

For men, there were pockets of high incidence of lung cancer in Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim.

There were also higher incidence of prostate cancer in Sligo and Donegal.

Stomach cancer showed one of the strongest patterns of geographical clustering, one covering the northeast of the country and the other in south Donegal.

Bladder cancer was also found to be common amongst men in Donegal, with melanoma of the skin prevalent along the west coast of the county.