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Ilya Tsimafeyeu^1*, Evgenia Aksel²

¹ Kidney Cancer Research Bureau, Moscow, Russia

² N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center,

 Moscow, Russia

Abstract

17,563 new cases of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) were diagnosed and 8,370 deaths from RCC were registered in the Russian Federation in 2008. RCC comprises approximately 4.3% of all malignancies in men, and 2.9% in women, with a median age at diagnosis of 61 years. The European age-standardised incidence rates per 100,000 population were 12.2 for general population; 16.5 for men, and 8.4 for women. The standardised incidence rate of RCC has increased by 15.7% (men) and 17.3% (women) for the past 5 years (2003-2008).  Despite the stability in age-standardized death rates, from 5.5 in 2005 to 5.9 in 2008, there were 440 more cancer deaths reported in 2008 than in 2005. The overall 5-year survival for 2001-2005 was 59.7%. Cancer survival non-significantly improved for RCC in both sexes between 1999 and 2006.

Introduction

The fast growing segment of the cancer patients is people with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). In Europe the incidence of RCC has doubled in the period from 1975 to 2005 [1]. The incidence of RCC in the United States has increased over time. Between 1975 and 1995, the incidence rates per 100,000 person-years increased by 2.3, 3.1, 3.9 and 4.3 percent annually for white men, white women, black men, and black women, respectively [2]. More recent data from 1997 to 2007 showed a similar trend with 2.6 percent increased yearly incidence [3].

Worldwide, there were an estimated 270,000 cases and 116,000 deaths in 2008 [4]. The incidence varies widely from region to region with the highest rates observed in Scandinavia and North America [5]. Although the incidence is lower in Africa, whites and blacks appear to be equally affected in the United States [6].

In this article we provide an overview of kidney cancer statistics including updated incidence, mortality, and survival rates in 2008 in the Russian Federation. Also, we compared survival in 1999-2002 and 2003-2006 years.

Materials and Methods

Incidence and mortality rates (2008) in the Russian Federation were calculated based on actual data obtained from the Department of Health Statistics, Ministry of Health and Social Development. These data were collected by all Russian cancer hospitals and centers participating in the National program. Overall survival was analyzed by data obtained from the Archives of the N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center and Kidney Cancer Research Bureau Database. Causes of death were coded and classified according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-8, ICD-9, and ICD-10).

We used three measures to assess the impact of a kidney cancer in the general population. There were incidence rate, mortality rate, and survival estimate. All incidence and mortality rates in this report are age-adjusted to the 2008 Russian standard population unless otherwise specified. Age-adjustment minimizes the effect of a difference in age distributions when comparing rates.

Table 1. Components of increase in the number of newly diagnosed RCC patients (% of baseline)

The median age at diagnosis was 61 years. Of the estimated 17,563 patients diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2008, almost half were patients ³ 65 years old. Significant differences in incidence of RCC between men and women were in group of patients ³ 40 years old. Figure 1 depicts incidence of RCC in different age groups. 

Despite the stability in age-standardized death rates, from 5.5 in 2005 to 5.9 in 2008, there were 440 more cancer deaths reported in 2008 than in 2005. Overall, absolute number of death from renal cancer is increasing. The male renal cancer mortality rate has been consistently higher than the female cancer death rate, and has increased more quickly, by 14.1% versus 7.8% respectively since 2001. Table 2 shows trends in kidney cancer mortality.

    *world standard

Kidney cancer age-standardised death rates are the highest among Magadan region population (12.3) and the lowest among population of Tuva Republic (1.8). The reason is unknown.

Survival and case-control study

The overall 5-year survival regardless of treatment type and stage for 2001-2005 was 59.7%. Five-year survival by sex was: 58.3% for men; 61.8% for women. Table 3 shows the overall survival in patients diagnosed with RCC from 2001-2005 by stages.

Table 4. Patient characteristics

Discussion

Kidney cancer is a major public health problem in the Russian Federation and many other parts of the world. The incidence of RCC has increased by 2.3% to 4.3% each year since the 1970s, resulting in more than 57,760 new diagnoses and more than 12,980 deaths annually in the United States [3,7]. The age-adjusted incidence and mortality rates were 14.1 and 4.1 per 100,000 per year. These rates are based on cases of RCC in 2003-2007 from 17 SEER geographic areas. The overall 5-year relative survival for 1999-2006 was 68.8% [3].

In 2007-2008 in the United Kingdom, 8,228 cases of kidney cancer were diagnosed and 3,848 deaths were registered. UK incidence and mortality age-standardised rates per 100,000 were 10.6 and 4.4 respectively. Relative 5-year survival based on survival probabilities observed during 2000-2001 in England and Wales was 68% and 65% for men and women [8].

In neighboring countries of Russia, kidney cancer also has become an important medical and social problem. In 2008 in the Belarus, the European age-standardised incidence and mortality rates per 100,000 were 17.4 and 5.6 respectively [9]. In 2008 in the Finland, the age-adjusted incidence of RCC was 9.5 (men) and 6.6 (women) per 100,000 per year. In this country, kidney cancer holds seventh place in the structure of mortality among all malignant tumours. Mortality rates were 3.2 and 2.3 for men and women. Relative 5-year survival for 2003-2005 was 60% for men and 59% for women [10]. In 2008 in the Kazakhstan, the age-adjusted incidence of RCC was 7.3 and mortality was 3.6 per 100,000 persons per year [11].

In our study, we showed that the incidence of and mortality from kidney cancer in Russia is comparable with other countries. Early detection and novel treatment strategies are required to improve long-term outcomes.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr Valeria Nazarova and Dr Natalia Petenko from N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center, Department of Biotherapy for their help in data collecting.

References

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8. Cancer in the UK [Internet]. Cancer Research UK. Available from:

http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/index.htm.

9. Official statistical yearbook of Ministry of Health of Belarus for 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 years [Internet]. Available from: http://minzdrav.by/med/article/statsod.php?prg=9.

10. The website of the Finnish Cancer Registry [Internet]. Available from:

http://www.cancer.fi/syoparekisteri/en/statistics/cancer-statistics/.

11. Davydov MI, Aksel EM. Cancer statistics in Russia and CIS in 2008. Journal of N.N.Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center RAMS 2010;2:48-49.

Key words: renal cell carcinoma, mortality, morbidity, statistics, survival, Russia

Citation: Tsimafeyeu I, Aksel E. Renal Cell Carcinoma in the Russian Federation in 2008. Malign Tumours 2010;1:1-4.