Nearly 135,000 Netherlands residents diagnosed with cancer last year

Last year, nearly 135,000 people in the Netherlands were diagnosed with cancer for the first time. This is almost the same number as the previous year, according to the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organization (IKNL). The disease was diagnosed in approximately 72,100 men and 62,700 women.

Skin cancer is the most common, followed by prostate, breast, lung, and colon cancer. The number of new prostate cancer diagnoses has been increasing in recent years. “This is mainly due to the aging population, but also changes in prostate cancer screening,” reported IKNL.

The number of colon cancer diagnoses has been declining for several years, despite previous expectations that there would be an increase due to the aging population. Metastatic colon cancer is becoming less common, in particular.

The IKNL attributed the development to the population screening program launched in 2014. This often leads to the detection of colon cancer at an early stage.

"The decline in colon cancer underscores the importance of population screening and early detection," said Carla van Gils, the head of the KWF Dutch Cancer Society. "By participating, you increase the chance that cancer will be detected early, and that saves lives."

Over the past two decades, more than a million people in the Netherlands have been diagnosed with some form of cancer.