Progress against cancer in the Netherlands since the late 1980s : population-based studies of incidence, prognosis and mortality

In the second part of the 20th century, cancer became an important health problem worldwide. Life expectancy increased for many western populations from about 70 years in the 1950s to more than 80 years in 2010. Thereby the life span to develop cancer increased, as age is the most important risk indicator of cancer. The Danish Cancer Registry, the oldest nationwide cancer registry, showed that cancer incidence