《TAIPEI TIMES》 Cancer diagnoses rose slightly in 2020, data show

/ Staff writer, with CNA

The number of new cancer cases in Taiwan climbed in 2020, with 725 more people diagnosed than in the previous year, Health Promotion Administration （HPA） data released yesterday showed.

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Taiwan recorded 121,979 cancer diagnoses in 2020, slightly more than the 121,254 reported in 2019, the data showed.

The 2020 figures could be interpreted as one cancer diagnosis being made every 4 minutes, 19 seconds, while the median age for a cancer diagnosis remained at 64.

Although colorectal cancer continued to top the list of most common cancers for the 15th consecutive year, with 16,829 diagnoses in 2020, the administration said its number declined slightly by 416 from 2019.

This was followed by cancers of the lung, breast, liver, mouth, prostate, thyroid, stomach and skin, followed by non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The standardized incidence rate was 336.2 for every 100,000 men, a 9.2 percent decrease compared with 2019, and 292.8 in every 100,000 women, a year-on-year increase of 0.1 percent.

By gender, 63,893 of the 121,979 diagnoses made in 2020 were in men and 58,086 were women.

Colorectal, lung and oral cancers were the most common types among males, with breast, lung and colorectal cancers the most common among females.

Separately, 27,955 new COVID-19 infections and 36 deaths from the disease were reported yesterday by the Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC）.

The new cases represent a 40.4 percent increase from the same day a week earlier, CECC data showed.

On a week-by-week basis, the 141,659 cases recorded from Thursday last week to Wednesday were up by 30.1 percent from the number reported from Dec. 15 to Wednesday last week, the data showed.

However, the 187 COVID-19 deaths reported from the past week were a 6 percent drop from the total recorded in the previous seven-day period, it showed.

All deaths reported yesterday were among people with underlying health conditions, while 15 were unvaccinated against COVID-19, the CECC said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES