Rising Cancer Cases Among Pregnant Women in Italy

In Italy, the number of women facing cancer during pregnancy is climbing. This trend is linked to women having children later in life. Managing cancer while pregnant is tricky. Doctors must balance treating the mother's cancer and keeping the baby safe. For a long time, people thought cancer during pregnancy meant bad outcomes. But now, evidence shows that pregnancy can often continue without hurting the cancer prognosis. In 2022, a big study in Italy looked at this issue. It was the first to use data from cancer registries and hospital records. The goal was to update the numbers on pregnancy-associated cancer (PAC) up to 2019. This study covered about 30% of Italy's population. It aimed to fix problems with older data. The study looked at women aged 15 to 49 who were diagnosed with cancer between 2003 and 2019. Researchers linked data from 21 cancer registries with hospital records. They found PAC cases by looking at hospital stays for pregnancy-related issues. These issues happened within a year before or two years after a cancer diagnosis. The study included all types of cancer except non-melanoma skin cancer. Out of 131, 774 women diagnosed with cancer, 6, 329 had cancer during pregnancy. That's about 1. 43 cases per 1, 000 pregnancies. This number matches what's seen around the world. The most common cancers were thyroid (24. 4%) and breast (23. 2%). Looking at the numbers from 2015 to 2019, the PAC rate went up for live births and miscarriages. But it went down for voluntary terminations. Most hospital stays (54%) happened before the cancer diagnosis. They peaked at the time of diagnosis, especially for breast cancer (69%). So, what does this all mean? The number of cancer cases during pregnancy is going up. This is especially true for live births and miscarriages. Doctors need to work together to take care of these women. They also need good information to guide them. This study shows that more work is needed to understand and manage cancer during pregnancy.