Source: www.independent.ie
Author: Eilish O’Regan Health Correspondent

Where you live can have a bearing on how high a risk you run of contracting a specific type of cancer. That is a key conclusion of a major new survey by the National Cancer Registry and its northern equivalent. It shows that between 1995-2007:

– Those living on coasts and in urban areas have a higher risk of both types of skin cancer;
– Those living around Cork city and in a band across the north of the island have a higher risk of bowel cancer.
– Lung cancer risk is higher in urban areas such as Dublin, Cork, Derry, Belfast and in the east
– Prostate cancer risk was much higher in the Republic than in the North.
– Stomach cancer risk was highest in a band running from Dublin to Donegal;
– The risk of many cancers is related to how much social or economic deprivation there is in an area.

For example lung, stomach, head and neck and cervical cancer risk was found to be higher in areas of high unemployment or where fewer go on to higher education. However, skin, breast and prostate cancer risk was lower in these areas.

Generally, the risk of cancer risk is higher in more densely populated areas and where there are larger numbers of elderly living.

National Cancer Registry director Dr Harry Comber said the differences can mostly be explained by people’s lifestyles, including smoking, drinking, obesity, diet and sexual behaviour.

People in socially deprived areas are more prone to cancers of the lung, stomach, head and neck and cervix. But the risk of non-melanoma — or less serious — skin cancer is higher in more affluent areas and is 15pc more common in men in the North than in the Republic. The report details how patterns of the disease can be markedly different depending where you live.

Smoking
The risk of lung cancer, which is mostly caused by smoking, is higher in urban areas including Belfast, Dublin, Derry and Cork, while prostate cancer risk is much higher in the Republic. Louth, Kildare, Carlow and Wicklow also stood out for prostate cancer.

Dr Comber stressed: “Most of the geographical variations are due to lifestyle and personal characteristics. It has nothing to do with treatment services.

“There is nothing very much in the geographical composition of an area. The one thing we did note was there is more melanoma along the south coast and there also tends to be more sunshine there,” he added.

The different patterns in bowel, melanoma and stomach cancer are largely unexplained. The risk of non-melanoma cancer is higher in more affluent areas.

During 2002-2007, the areas of highest risk for ovarian cancer were around Cork city, most of Munster and Co Down and Belfast in the North. The risk of cervical cancer was significantly higher — at 11pc — here than in the North, which has had a screening programme for many years. It was highest around Dublin, extending to Wexford and the midlands, areas round Cork, Waterford, Belfast and Sligo.

Dr Comber commented: “Areas with unexplained higher than average risk should but studied in detail and a comprehensive programme of research into known influences on cancer risk in Ireland is needed.”

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