Incidence and Survival Trends of Pancreatic Cancer in Girona: Impact of the Change in Patient Care in the Last 25 Years

Abstract

(1) Background: We investigated the incidence and survival trends for pancreatic cancer (PC) over the last 25 years in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain; (2) Methods: Data were extracted from the population-based Girona Cancer Registry. Incident PC cases during 1994–2015 were classified using the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology Third Edition (ICD-O-3). Incidence rates age-adjusted to the European standard population (ASRE) and world standard population (ASRW) were obtained. Trends were assessed using the estimated annual percentage of change (EAPC) of the ASRE13. Observed and relative survivals (RS) were estimated with the Kaplan–Meier and Pohar Perme methods, respectively; (3) Results: We identified 1602 PC incident cases. According to histology, 44.4% of cases were exocrine PC, 4.1% neuroendocrine, and 51.1% malignant-non-specified. The crude incidence rate (CR) for PC was 11.43 cases-per-100,000 inhabitants/year. A significant increase of incidence with age and over the study period was observed. PC overall 5-year RS was 7.05% (95% confidence interval (CI) 5.63; 8.84). Longer overall survival was observed in patients with neuroendocrine tumours (5-year RS 61.45%; 95% CI 47.47; 79.55). Trends in 5-year RS for the whole cohort rose from 3.27% (95% CI 1.69–6.35) in 1994–1998 to 13.1% (95% CI 9.98; 17.2) in 2010–2015; (4) Conclusions: Incidence rates of PC in Girona have increased in the last two decades. There is a moderate but encouraging increase in survival thorough the study period. These results can be used as baseline for future research.