Abstract
The incidence of malignancies in the Czech Republic shows a long-term increasing trend. Therefore, occupational cancers and their proportion to the total numbers were studied.
The incidence and absolute counts of cancers from 1991 until 2008 were received from the National Cancer Registry of the Czech Republic. Statistics of mortality were provided by the Czech Statistical Office.
Data concerning occupational cancer, acknowledged in the years 1991-2009 were gained from the database of the National Registry of Occupational Diseases. In the years 1991-2009, a total of 1038 cases of occupational tumors (mean 58/year),were acknowledged in the Czech Republic.
Among them, 94.7% involved men with a decreased trend. In the year 1991 out of a total of 47,313 tumors in the Czech Republic, 100 cases of cancer were notified as occupational (0.21%).Finally in 2008 from a total of 77,370 new tumors in the Czech Republic, only 24 new occupational tumors (0.03%) were observed.
As a causing agent, the ionizing radiation was the most commonly assigned factor (78.0%); asbestos (13.1%) and chemical agents (8.9%) were less frequent. Conclusions: The development in new occupational cancers acknowledged does not follow the trend in the cancer morbidity.
Decrease may be caused by the elimination of almost all workplaces in uranium mines and asbestos manufacturing.