FICAN East covers the entire area of special responsibility of Eastern Finland which, in addition to the Wellbeing Services County of North Savo includes the Wellbeing Services Counties of North Karelia, Central Finland and South Savo. Approximately 800 000 people in total reside in the region.
In 2020, a total of 5 194 new incidents of cancer were diagnosed in the area of FICAN East, of which women totalled 2 413 and men 2 781. This covers about 15% of the incidents of cancer diagnosed in the country as a whole (incidents of cancer in Finland as a whole 34 760, women 16 535, men 18 225).
Most common types of cancer among men
Of the most common types of cancer in men in 2020, prostate cancer caused 160 deaths (833 new cases), lung cancer 217 deaths (251 new cases), and colon and rectal cancer 101 deaths (308 new cases) in the area of FICAN East. The relative five-year survival rate of men in the FICAN East region was 93.0 percent in the case of prostate cancer, 14.3 percent in lung cancer, and 63.2 percent in colon and rectal cancer. The survival rate describes the relative survival of those affected five years after the diagnosis of cancer. The figure is based on the follow-up of patients in 2018–2020, and the impact of other mortality has been removed by comparing the survival rate of patients with the survival of population of the same age.
Most common types of cancer among women
Of the most common types of cancer in women in 2020, breast cancer caused 150 deaths (724 new cases), lung cancer 107 deaths (149 new cases), and colon and rectal cancer 80 deaths (226 new cases) in the area of FICAN East. The relative five-year survival rate of men in the FICAN East region was 91.3 percent in the case of breast cancer, 18.8 percent in lung cancer, and 68.9 percent in colon and rectal cancer.
The statistics describing the incidents of cancer in Finland and the area round the FICAN East are available from the Finnish Cancer Registry, Cancer Statistics.