Coronado A C, Finley C, Badovinac K, Han J, Niu J, Rahal R
Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, Toronto, ON.
Curr Oncol. 2018 Oct;25(5):338-341. doi: 10.3747/co.25.4230. Epub 2018 Oct 31.
Cancer research is essential in evaluating the safety and effectiveness of emerging cancer treatments, which in turn can lead to ground-breaking advancements in cancer care. Given limited research funding, allocating resources in alignment with societal burden is essential. However, evidence shows that such alignment does not typically occur. The objective of the present study was to provide an updated overview of site-specific cancer research investment in Canada and to explore potential discrepancies between the site-specific burden and the level of research investment.
The 10 cancer sites with the highest mortality in 2015-which included brain, female breast, colorectal, leukemia, lung, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, ovary, pancreas, prostate, and uterus-were selected for the analysis. Information about site-specific research investment and cancer burden (raw incidence and mortality) was obtained from the Canadian Cancer Research Survey and Statistics Canada's cansim (the Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management System) respectively. The ratio of site-specific research investment to site-specific burden was used as an indicator of overfunding (ratio > 1) or underfunding (ratio < 1).
The 3 cancer sites with the highest research investments were leukemia, prostate, and breast, which together represented 51.3% of 2015 cancer research funding. Conversely, the 3 cancer sites with the lowest investments were uterus, pancreas, and ovary, which together represented 7.8% of 2015 research funding. Relative to site-specific cancer burden, the lung, uterus, and colorectal sites were consistently the most underfunded.
Observed discrepancies between cancer burden and research investment indicate that some cancer sites (such as lung, colorectal, and uterus) seem to be underfunded when site-specific incidence and mortality are taken into consideration.
癌症研究对于评估新兴癌症治疗方法的安全性和有效性至关重要，而这反过来又能推动癌症治疗取得突破性进展。鉴于研究资金有限，根据社会负担来分配资源至关重要。然而，有证据表明这种匹配通常并未实现。本研究的目的是提供加拿大特定部位癌症研究投资的最新概况，并探讨特定部位负担与研究投资水平之间的潜在差异。
选取2015年死亡率最高的10个癌症部位进行分析，包括脑癌、女性乳腺癌、结直肠癌、白血病、肺癌、非霍奇金淋巴瘤、卵巢癌、胰腺癌、前列腺癌和子宫癌。分别从加拿大癌症研究调查和加拿大统计局的cansim（加拿大社会经济信息管理系统）获取特定部位研究投资和癌症负担（原始发病率和死亡率）的信息。特定部位研究投资与特定部位负担的比率用作资金过剩（比率>1）或资金不足（比率<1）的指标。
研究投资最高的3个癌症部位是白血病、前列腺癌和乳腺癌，它们共占2015年癌症研究资金的51.3%。相反，投资最低的3个癌症部位是子宫癌、胰腺癌和卵巢癌，它们共占2015年研究资金的7.8%。相对于特定部位的癌症负担，肺癌、子宫癌和结直肠癌部位一直是资金最不足的。
癌症负担与研究投资之间的明显差异表明，在考虑特定部位的发病率和死亡率时，某些癌症部位（如肺癌、结直肠癌和子宫癌）似乎资金不足。
