World Cancer Day: Number of inpatient cancer treatments at a new low in 2022

08.02.2024 11:42

In 2022, a good 1.40 million patients were treated in hospital for cancer. This means that the number of inpatient cancer treatments fell again to its lowest level in the past 20 years, as announced by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on the occasion of World Cancer Day on February 4. Compared to the previous year, which was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of cancer-related hospital stays fell again by 2% in 2022. One reason for the decline could be improvements in prevention, screening, and treatment. The total number of inpatient hospital treatments remained virtually constant over the same period (+0.3%).

Cancer was the reason for one in twelve hospital stays

Cancer remained the fourth most common reason for hospitalization in 2022: 8% of all inpatient treatments were due to cancer. Only diseases of the circulatory system (15%, 10 ...

More than half of all cancer patients aged 60 to 79 years

People aged 60 to 79 are particularly likely to be treated in hospital for cancer. More than half (54 percent) of all cancer patients in 2022 were in this age group. One-fifth (20 percent) of cancer patients were aged 40 to 59, and another 20 percent were 80 years or older. Younger people are significantly less likely to be treated for cancer: only 5 percent of cancer patients were under 40 years old.

Lung cancer was the cause of one in eight inpatient cancer treatments

Of all cancer patients in 2022, those diagnosed with lung and bronchial cancer (12 percent), colorectal cancer (10 percent), breast cancer (9 percent), skin cancer (8 percent), and bladder cancer (7 percent) were most frequently hospitalized. Among the common cancers, inpatient treatments for lung and bronchial cancer declined most significantly compared to the previous year (-4 percent). The exception to this is hospital stays for skin cancer, which increased by 3 percent over the same period.

231,500 people died from cancer in 2022

With improved prevention, screening, and treatment of cancer, the chances of recovery also increase. While the number of cancer-related deaths has increased over the past 20 years: in 2022, a good 231,500 people died from cancer, compared to around 210,000 in 2002, the increase is likely also due to the aging of the population. However, the proportion of cancer-related deaths among all deaths has decreased over the same period: from 25% in 2002 to 22% in 2022.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death

Cancer remained the second leading cause of death in 2022, second only to diseases of the circulatory system (358,200, or 34% of all deaths). Of those who died from cancer, 54% were men, and 46% were women. Among people aged 40 to 74, cancer was the leading cause of death: more than one in three deaths (35% of all deaths) in this age group were the result of cancer.

Lung cancer is the cause of one-fifth of all cancer-related deaths

As in previous years, the most common cause of cancer-related deaths was lung and bronchial cancer, accounting for just over 45,200 deaths. This cancer alone thus accounted for one-fifth (20% of) of cancer-related deaths, or just over 4% of total deaths in 2022. Other common causes of cancer-related deaths included colon cancer (24,300 deaths), pancreatic cancer (19,200), breast cancer (19,100), and prostate cancer (15,600).