Haifa tops Israel cancer list
New data show there are 15% more Haifa residents with disease than in rest of country. Ministry of Health: The issue will be investigated.
Haifa is the leading city in the number of cancer patients in Israel, according to new data from the Ministry of Health, which comes a month after it added air pollution to the list of contributing factors to cancer. But, the Ministry warned, the explanation for this discrepancy cannot be concluded at this stage.
The rate of cancer among men in Haifa from 2006 to 2011 was 15% higher than the average in Israel, the second highest rating after Acre with 16%. The rate of cancer among women is also higher than the Israeli average at 15%, this marks Haifa women having the highest cancer rating in the country.
Haifa: More breast and prostate cancer
At a press conference held by the Israel Cancer Association and the Ministry of Health held Monday, cancer data was presented by districts for the years 2001 to 2005 and 2006 to 2011. Haifa is the only district in Israel to have the highest occurrences of cancer among men and women during the whole period examined.
The figures are also prominent in the types of cancer present among men and women in Haifa. Women in Haifa have 6% more occurrence of breast cancer, (the second highest incidence of breast cancer after the Jezreel district, which has 8% of women with the disease). Haifa comes in third in the rate of prostate cancer among men, with 8% incidence of the disease (after Ashkelon with 13% and Rehovot with 12%).
Haifa has 16% percent more men with lung cancer (Acre is the only city with more prevalence at 25%), and for Haifa women the rate of morbidity is 25%. In cases of lymphoma that are not classified as Hodgkin’s, men in Haifa have 16% more incidences than the rest of the population, while women have 18% more incidences (higher are Acre with 26% and the Jezreel Valley with 22%).
Sharon region and Tel Aviv are least sick
“It could be the factories in the Haifa Bay and it could be the way of life or different behavior of residents. More studies regarding the matter must be conducted in order to determine the cause,” said Dr. Lital Keinan Boker the Deputy Director of the National Cancer Registry at the Ministry of Health, who emphasized that the data is descriptive and cannot be used to determine the relation between the prevalence of the disease and pollution. Such research should be conducted in order to determine whether the prevalence of the disease is due to air pollution or other contributing factors.
Which cities in Israel have a high prevalence of cancer in men compared to the rest of the country?
The rate in Hadera is 6% higher than the rest of the country while in Ashkelon the cancer rate is 5% higher. In contrast, Jerusalem has 10% less prevalence of cancer, Ramle 5% less, and the Sharon region 4% less.
Among women, Acre has 11% more women with cancer than the national average, Jezreel has 7%, and Tel Aviv 2% . Jerusalem, on the other hand, has 7% less cases and Ramle 6% less.
Jerusalem is the only city to have less cancer than the average rate from 2001 to 2011 among men and women.
Israel 6th in cancer survival
Other data released at the press conference shows that Israel is ranked 6th in the world at cancer survival. The results come from studies conducted at Yale University, New York University and the University of Virginia.
The position was calculated by looking at the ratio of morbidity and mortality, the lower the ratio between the two, the higher the ranking on the cancer survival scale.
Australia is ranked first, followed by Luxemburg, the United States, New Zealand and Ireland, respectively. Armenia came in last place among the 78 countries ranked.
Next Sunday, the Israel Cancer Association will hold its annual “Door Knock” fundraising campaign.
