PANCREATIC CANCER - STATISTICS ON PATIENTS IN PRILEP, REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN MACEDONIA IN THE PERIOD FROM 2014 TO 2019

Jihe Zhu*, Blagica Arsovska and Kristina Kozovska

ABSTRACT

Pancreatic cancer is a highly fatal disease with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 10%, and it is becoming an increasingly common cause of cancer mortality. The main focus of this research is to show the incidence of pancreatic cancer. These data were obtained through the PHI Center for Public Health - Prilep and refer to the incidence of pancreatic cancer, on the territory of the Municipality of Prilep, in patients treated in hospital and in private clinics in period from 2014 to 2019. According to the data, in the period from 2014 to 2019 there were total of 20 diagnosed patients with pancreatic cancer. Every year there is an average of 3 newly diagnosed cases. The highest number of registered cases is in 2019 - a total of 6, and the lowest number is in 2017 - 1 case. The disease on the territory of the Municipality of Prilep occurs more often in men than in women in a ratio of 3:1, which corresponds to the global trends. Pancreatic cancer is associated with older people. For the period from 2014 to 2019 there were 16 registered patients older than 55 years. Globally, the median age of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is 70 years. Due to the inability to detect the disease early, extremely difficult to make a correct diagnosis, limited treatment options, very short survival time and unclear etiological causes, all this leads to pancreatic cancer being the biggest public health challenge today.

Keywords: Pancreas, cancer, statistic, oncology.