Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Between 2013 and 2022, 37,022 cases of occupational cancer were officially recorded in the European Union. According to figures released Tuesday by Eurostat, the European Statistical Office in Brussels, the term "occupational cancer" refers to cancers resulting from exposure to carcinogenic agents in the workplace, usually as a result of long-term exposure. Many of these cases appear several years after initial exposure, even up to 40 years later.
The figures for 2020 (3,094 cases per year), 2021 (3,258 cases), and 2022 (3,309 cases) were lower than the annual average for the period 2013-2019 (3,909 cases per year), possibly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare systems. An examination of data from 2013 to 2022 reveals that the most common occupational cancers were lung cancer, with 15,272 cases, and mesothelioma, with 14,914 cases (a type of cancer linked to asbestos exposure that develops in the thin layer of tissue covering many internal organs, known as the mesothelium). Together, these two cancers accounted for 81.5% of all newly reported occupational cancer cases during this period. Bladder cancer followed, with 2,559 cases.