Study: Cancer Mortality Is Higher in Romania than EU Average

Cancer mortality in Romania is higher than the EU average and has increased over the last decade. This is the conclusion of the latest Cancer Profile Romania, a study conducted by the OECD and published in February 2023.

According to the study, cancer is Romania’s second leading cause of death after cardiovascular diseases, representing 19% of all deaths. In 2019. 50,324 people died of cancer in Romania. The age-standardized cancer mortality rate was 7 % higher than the EU average in 2019 and has shown very modest progress since 2011 compared to the EU average.

According to the same source, while cancer mortality decreased by 1 % among men and increased by 1 % among women in Romania in 2011-2019, across the EU, it decreased by 10 % among men and by 5 % among women. The difference in overall cancer mortality between Romania and the EU average increased from -1 % to 7 % during the decade because of the modest progress registered in Romania. This particularly relates to higher mortality rates among the 15-64. In 2019, the mortality rate among men aged 15-64 was 64 % higher than the EU average.

Meanwhile, the overall cancer incidence in Romania is below the EU average. According to the European Cancer Information System (ECIS) of the Joint Research Centre, based on incidence trends from pre-pandemic years, around 95 000 new cancer cases were expected in Romania in 2020. Age-standardized incidence rates for all cancers were expected to be 10% lower for men and 16 % lower for women than the EU averages. Among women, cervical cancer is the third most common, after breast and colorectal cancer, which differs from the pattern across the EU.

The study was published in February in the context of World Cancer Day, February 4th. World Cancer Day is an international day marked on 4 February to raise cancer awareness and encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. The Union leads World Cancer Day for International Cancer Control to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration from 2008.

Cancer treatment app to help doctors and patients in Romania: Docviser

The cancer mortality rate in Romania made companies look for solutions to help doctors save lives. One of these is MCRO, a company in Cluj Napoca that launched Docviser, the first intelligent oncological app. This is an app that helps doctors optimize and monitor the efficiency of the oncological treatment, also helping them to understand the best practices of other clinics.

The entire process happens in real-time for everyone, in full transparency. Doctors can oversee everything, the entire flow from prescription to administering the treatment in real-time. That’s the main feature of Docviser. Other features will include the Tumour Board for the doctors to make the best decision for their patients. They have the option to join offline and meet in the same room and online in a Google meet-like conference room adapted for them to be able to discuss specific case studies, work on a resolution and add anything relevant to them that would make everyone take the best decision. Besides that, we also offer powerful clinic reports that help clinics logistically organize their staff better and be able to determine the exact quantity of drugs to be administered in the following months based on the previous month’s records.

Alex Lazar, CEO of MCRO, on Docviser’s features

Please check the full interview we had in exclusivity with Alex Lazar on what Docviser can do for doctors and oncological patients.