Within just six years, cancer will surpass heart disease to become the leading cause of death in Canada. That's because of a growing and aging population, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

In its annual report, "Canadian Cancer Statistics 2004," the society says cancer is already the leading cause of early death.

If trends continue, experts predict that the number of new cases of cancer diagnosed each year in Canada will increase by 60 per cent over the next two decades.

"Trends suggest that by 2010, cancer will be the leading cause of death in Canada," Dr. Barbara Whylie, chief executive officer of the Canadian Cancer Society, said in a news release.

The statistics are chilling. According to the report, one Canadian is already diagnosed with cancer every four minutes, and one person in Canada dies every eight minutes from cancer.

"We're going to be hit with a tidal wave of cancer and that's going to great a huge demand for health care resources..and cause a huge amount of suffering," Whylie says.

"It's imperative that we start to implement a strategy as soon as possible so the cancer crisis in Canada can be defused."

The report also says cancer is a burden on the Canadian economy. In 1988, the total cost of cancer was $14.2 billion. Of that, $2.5 billion was associated with direct health-care costs, and $11.8 billion was linked to indirect costs, such as loss of productivity.

Statistics from the report:

• In 2004, 145,500 people will be diagnosed with cancer and 68,300 people will die
• Breast cancer will continue to be the most diagnosed cancer for women in 2004, and prostate for men
• Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer for both men and women
• Overall, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer
• Across Canada, incidence and death rates are higher in eastern Canada than Western Canada

Challenges

The report points out, as one of the main challenges, the rising number of women being diagnosed with lung cancer. It says incidence and death rates are three times as high as in 1975.

That's partly because smoking rates among women only began to decline slightly in the mid-1980s "and, as a result, benefits in terms of declining lung cancer rates have yet to become apparent."

Another challenge is the rising number of cases and deaths of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma for both men and women.

The report says melanoma incidence rates are increasing for both men and women, and death rates are increasing for men.

In some positive news, incidence rates are declining for cervical, ovarian and laryngeal cancer among women. For men, the incidence of larynx and lung cancers are on their way down.

As for death rates, declines have occurred in cervical, ovarian and pancreatic cancer among women. For men, rates are down for oral, pancreatic, laryngeal and lung cancer.

Incidence and death rates for stomach cancer are down for both men and women.

The report is a joint effort of the Canadian Cancer Society, Health Canada, the National Cancer Institute of Canada, Statistics Canada, provincial/territorial cancer registries, as well as university-based and provincial/territorial cancer agency based cancer researchers.