Western Trust cancer incidence rate 3.3% above average

The number of cases of cancer (excluding Non-melanoma Skin Cancer) diagnosed during 2019-2023 varied in each Health and Social Care Trust due to variations in population size and age.

In the Western Trust there were 8,547 total cases over the five year period with an average of 1,709 per year.

For men there were 4,437 cases (887 on average per year) while for women there were 4,110 cases (822 on average per year).

The statistics were released by the Queen's University Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR).

The Western Trust (3.3 per cent above the northern average) and Belfast Trust (8.4 per cent above) had higher than average incidence rates.

Across the North there were 52,746 cases of cancer (ex-NMSC) diagnosed during 2019-2023.

On average this was 10,549 cases per year.

During this period 48.5 per cent of cancer (ex-NMSC) cases were among women (Male cases: 27,173, Female cases: 25,573). On average there were 5,435 male and 5,115 female cases of cancer (ex-NMSC) per year.

The most common diagnosis month during 2019-2023 was November among males with 494 cases per year and October among females with 457 cases per year.

The cancer (ex-NMSC) incidence rates for each gender were 579.2 cases per 100,000 males and 528.0 cases per 100,000 females.

The odds of developing cancer (ex-NMSC) before age 85 was 1 in 2 for men and 1 in 3 for women.