Abstract:
Introduction. Lung cancer is the second leading cause of death from malignant
tumors in the Republic of Moldova and, according to the index of deaths due to
lung cancer, our country ranks the 56th place in the world. The most important
risk factor for the development of lung cancer is tobacco smoking, which accounts
for between 80% and 90% of all the cases, and the gas radon is among the other
most important risk factors and is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers. Applying preventive measures for these risk factors will help reduce the
burden of lung cancer morbidity on the health system and society as a whole.
Aim. The purpose of the research was to evaluate the situation regarding lung
cancer morbidity in the Republic of Moldova and to develop some preventive
measures. Material and methods. Data of lung cancer morbidity (incidence/prevalence) in the Republic of Moldova in 2012-2020 (from the Health
Data Management Direction of National Agency for Public Health) were used. The
descriptive-statistical analysis of the lung cancer morbidity in the Republic of
Moldova was carried out on the data stored and processed in MS Excel. Results.
In 2020 lung cancer was the second most common cancer in the Republic of Moldova and more than 726 people were diagnosed with this disease this year, which
represents 8.5% of all newly diagnosed cancers among men and women combined. Estimation of the situation of lung cancer morbidity in last years revealed
highest value of the lung cancer incidence in Donduseni (50.1 per 100 thou in
2018) as well as the highest prevalence of lung cancer was registered in Criuleni
(142.8 per 100 thou in 2017). In turn, the minimum values of lung cancer incidence and prevalence were registered in Cantemir (8.0 per 100 thou in 2012) and
Calarasi (9.1 per 100 thou in 2017), respectively. In the last 3 years, there has
been a decrease in lung cancer incidence at the national level, and the 9-year linear trend shows an insignificant decrease (by 0.1 per 100 thou/year). In turn, the
lung cancer prevalence shows a small increase – the tendency is 0.3 per 100
thou/year. It is worth noting that the maximum values of lung cancer prevalence
were also recorded in many northern regions of the country. The descriptivestatistical analysis of the incidence and prevalence of lung cancer in the Republic
of Moldova during the last 9 years by the standard error has shown relatively
small changes in relation to the average value in regions. In turn, the standard
deviation for the lung cancer incidence has indicated the average variability of
data (σ>2), and the standard deviation of the prevalence was large (σ>19). For the
lung cancer incidence, the coefficient of variation was approximately 17% having
the smallest variation in the north of the country, and for the lung cancer prevalence it was about 40%. Thus, a consistently high incidence of lung cancer remains in the north of the country, and the prevalence is heterogeneous across the
country and tends to increase. Conclusions. The results of the estimation of cancer morbidity continue to be a concern for health authorities in the country and
justify the intensification of efforts towards prevention. Reducing the burden of
lung cancer in the country must be based on certain key aspects of prevention –
the fight against smoking and the control of radon levels in buildings through testing and remediation.
