The number of colorectal cancer screening tests in Canada increased in 2024, while detection of cervical cancer has decreased, and the number of mammograms has remained stable, according to a new report Statistics Canada.
Publication, Colorectal cancer screening, cervix and breast cervix (2024)examines the evolution of screening rates between 2017 and 2024 in the ten Canadian provinces (therefore excluding the three territories).
Cancer remains the main cause of death in the country, recalls Statistics Canada from the start. “According to projections, around 2 in 5 Canadians will be suffering from cancer in their lifetime. Consequently, cancer screening is important for early detection of the disease, and improving the results of treatment, ”write the authors of the report.
More colorectal cancer screening
According to Statistics Canada, more people have passed a colorectal cancer screening test, “the third type of cancer most common in Canada”, in 2024 that in 2017 in 2017
For 2024, 49% of people aged 50 to 74 have said they had passed an immunochemical blood -raising research test in the stool (or stool analysis) in the previous two years or a sigmoidoscopy in the last ten years. In 2017, this proportion amounted to 43.4%. In Quebec, the rate was 48.6% in 2024, compared to 40.4% in 2017.
The report specifies that the study does not take into account people who have undergone a colonoscopy, which means that the proportion of Canadians having been detected could be underestimated.
The proportion of men and women is similar, respectively 49.4% of Canadians and 48.7% of Canadian women passed a stool analysis or sigmoidoscopy, according to data collected for 2024.
Note that stool analysis is the most widespread screening method, in 97% of cases. Among the reasons mentioned for not having recently passed this screening test, 31 % of respondents indicated that their health professional did not judge this necessary or never talked about it; 26% of those questioned estimated that it was not necessary; 23% said they had already passed another type of test (sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy); And 7 % mentioned that they did not have an official health professional.
Female cancers: a variable portrait
“Col of the cervix ranks fourth in the most common cancers in women in the world,” said the statistical Canada report. Among women aged 25 to 69, 68.7% said they had passed a PAP test in the past three years. This is a drop compared to the 74% reported in 2017. In Quebec, this is the case of 63.4% of respondents in 2024, and 67.6% in 2017.
The reasons invoked by the Canadians so as not to have undergone this test include cases where the respondent did not deem it necessary (26 %) as well as when the health professional never proposed it or did not believe that it was necessary (25 %). The lack of time was cited as an obstacle by 13 % of respondents, as is the absence of a regular health professional. Finally, feelings of fear or discomfort were appointed to 11% of the respondents.
The human papilloma virus (HPV) being the main cause of cervical cancer, a HPV screening test, carried out at larger intervals than the PAP test, can also be used, nuances the ratio. “In Canada, HPV tests are increasingly replacing the PAP tests,” said the authors. In 2024, 33 % of women aged 25 to 69 said they had passed a HPV screening test during their lifetime. In Quebec, this proportion rises to 39%.
Finally, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in Canada. The rate of mammograms in women aged 50 to 74 in the past three years has remained relatively stable between 2024 and 2017, around 78.5 %. Quebec is slightly above the Canadian average with 79.4% in 2024, however slightly down compared to the 80.9% of 2017.
Among the reasons mentioned in 2024 for not having spent mammography, 32 % of women judged that it was not necessary, while 20 % indicated that their health care provider did not think it was necessary or had never spoken to them; 12 % spoke of feelings of fear or discomfort, a rate equal to those who said they did not have health care provider.
Among younger women, aged 40 to 49, mammograph rates remain low in 2024 (and even a little lower than in 2017), with 33.6% for all Canadian provinces and barely 23.4% in Quebec.
