Background:
Lung cancer is the most significant preventable cancer in Turkey. With a successful fight against tobacco, the elimination of cancers of the lung, larynx, urinary bladder, cervix, pharynx and oral cavity will be possible to a great extent. Effective tobacco control means the prevention of approximately 40,000 lung cancers in Turkey, annually. From another perspective, one in every three cancers is related to tobacco use, indicating two out of three cancer patients may be saved from having cancer. In this regard Turkey has implemented national Tobacco control programme since 1996 with very strict preventive measures since 2007.
Aim:
This study analysis the effect of this programme in national cancer incidences.
Methods:
Cancer statistics has been collected from 9 active cancer registry centers which are distributed evenly all across Turkey. Total number of coverage of these 9 centers is approximately %27 of the whole population.
Results:
Depending on the latest cancer statistics lung cancer is the leading cancer in males(66/100.000) and breast cancer is the leading cancer in females (40.6/100.000). Tobacco related cancers did show a plateau in incidence (Figure 1). Tobacco Related Cancers in Turkey
Conclusions:
Depending on the latest national cancer statistics Turkey has firstly seen a stop in the raise of tobacco related cancer incidences which may be attributed to the success of our national tobacco control programme.