Azores Situation Report Wednesday 15th January 2025
Cancer mortality rate rises in the Azores in contrast to the country as a whole
The Autonomous Region of the Azores not only has the highest cancer mortality rate in the country, but it has also been growing since 2020, in contrast to what is happening on the mainland and in Madeira.
This is one of the conclusions set out in the audit entitled “Regional Strategy for the Prevention and Combat of Oncological Diseases” that the Azores Regional Section of the Court of Auditors (SRATdC) published last week.
The SRATdC document revealed that the Azores, “considering all ages and both sexes”, have the highest cancer mortality rate in the country, both crude (281.9 per 100,000 people) and standardized (192.6 per thousand people), despite having the youngest population, but, at the same time, the one that “has the lowest average life expectancy at birth”.
And the comparison, made by the auditor, covers the period between 2017 and 2023, not counting the last year, which in the Region was marked by the HDES fire and consequent shockwaves for the health of the Azoreans, with a reduction in all hospital activity, especially regarding complementary diagnostic and therapeutic means.
As for new cases, the characterization that is made reveals that, between 2017 and 2023, the most affected age group was those aged 60 to 74, with 41%, followed by people over 75 (27%), and the age group between 45 and 60 (18.3%).
In other words, 86.3% of new cases diagnosed in this period occurred in people aged 45 or over.
However, comparing with the figures for Madeira and mainland Portugal, the number of cancer cases recorded in people aged 45 or over was 93%, 6.7 percentage points more than in the Azores.
In other words, “in the Azores, cancer affects younger groups of the population, a matter that could be the subject of analysis within the scope of the study on the causes of cancer in the Azores, currently underway”, states the audit.
A study commissioned in December 2018, and which had a 3-month deadline, but which is still not completed in 2025, a delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic (which only began in March 2020, that is, one year and three months after the study was awarded to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra). According to the entity responsible for the study, it was resumed in 2022 but is not yet completed.
The audit also reveals that the age group with the highest incidence of cancer is between 60 and 74 years old, both in men (805 cases, corresponding to 45.8% of the total) and women (608 cases, 36%).
However, up to the age of 59, women always have higher incidence rates than men (except in the 15-29 age group), in some cases twice as high, such as in the 30-44 age group, with 248 cases, compared to 117 cases in men. From the age of 60 onwards, there is a notable prevalence of tumours in men, almost always around twice as high.
By sex, the most common cancer in women was breast cancer (448 cases, 26.5% of the total), followed by thyroid cancer (108 cases) and uterine body cancer (86). These three types of tumours account for 38% of new cases of cancer diagnosed.
In men, prostate cancer is the most prevalent, with 279 cases (15.9%), followed by cancer of the trachea, bronchi and lungs, with 185 cases (10.5% of the total) and cancer of the colon and rectum, with 135 cases (7.7% of the total). These three types of cancer account for more than a third of new cases.
Earthquake measuring 2.4 on the Richter scale felt in São Miguel
An earthquake measuring 2.4 on the Richter scale was felt this morning in the parish of Furnas, on the island of São Miguel
According to the Azores Seismo-volcaeic Surveillance and Information Centre (CIVISA), the earthquake was recorded at 1:18 am and had its epicentre approximately 3 km west of Furnas.
According to information available from CIVISA, the earthquake was felt with maximum intensity IV (Modified Mercalli Scale) in Furnas (municipality of Povoação), Ponta Garça and Ribeira das Tainhas (municipality of Vila Franca do Campo).
The event was also felt with intensity III in Ribeira Quente (Popoação municipality).
Azores break record for number of passengers disembarking at airports for the third consecutive year
The Azores broke the record for passengers disembarking at airports in 2024, with around 2.3 million passengers, 8.3% more than in 2023, according to data released by the Regional Statistics Service (SREA)
During 2024, 177,115 more passengers disembarked than in the previous year, an annual variation of 8.3%.
In total, 2,316,543 people disembarked at the archipelago’s nine airports between January and December 2024.
In 2022 and 2023, the region had already reached record numbers of air transport passengers, with 1.8 and 2.1 million arrivals, respectively.