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 Printable version |
The European countries confronting cancer: a set of indicators assessing public health status |
Bulletin du Cancer. Volume 95, Number 11, 1053-62, novembre 2008, Article original
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 Résumé
Article gratuit
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Author(s) : Laurent Borella |
Summary : Context. We now know that efficient public policies for cancer control need to be global and take into account each and all the factors involved: economics and level of development, style of life and risk factors, access to screening, effectiveness of the care-providing system. A very simple scorecard is proposed, based on publicized public health indicators, which allows a comparison between European countries. Methodology. We extracted 49 indicators from public databases and literature concerning 22 European countries. We made correlation calculations in order to identify relevant indicators from which a global score was extracted. Using a hierarchical clustering method we were then able to identify subsets of homogeneous countries. Results. A 7 indicator scorecard was drawn up: national gross product, scientific production, smoking rate, breast screening participating rate, all cancer mortality rate (male population), 5 years relative survival for colorectal cancer and life expectancy at birth. A global score shows: 1) the better positioned countries: Switzerland, Sweden, Finland and France\; 2) the countries where cancer control is less effective: Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Three subsets of countries with a fairly similar profile were identified: a high level of means and results group\; a high level of means but a medium level of results group\; and a low level of means and results group. Conclusion. This work emphasizes dramatically heterogeneous situations between countries. A follow-up, using a reduced but regularly updated set of public health indicators, would help induce an active European policy for cancer control. |
Keywords : cancer, scorecard, indicators, european comparison |
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