Effects of cancer mortality on life expectancy in European high-income countries between 1950 and 2019

This article aims to analyze the effects of cancer mortality on life expectancy at birth in 15 European high-income countries between 1950 and 2019. To establish the 1950–2019 time series of deaths from cancer, mortality data were harmonized from the available datasets of the World Health Organization Mortality database, coded according to the International Classification of Diseases of the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th editions. The estimation of the cancer mortality effect on the life expectancy at birth was performed using the algorithm of stepwise replacement for the life expectancy decomposition. The increase in cancer mortality contributed to a decline in overall life expectancy growth until the mid-1990s, coinciding with the aging cohorts of heavy smokers and a long-term reduction in mortality from other non-communicable diseases. Subsequently, since the 1990s, the reduction in cancer mortality has contributed to a significant increase in life expectancy at birth, especially in males. Reduction in cancer mortality was the outcome of various factors, such as alcohol and tobacco control policies, advances in cancer prevention and its treatment, general increase in population well-being, and reduction in risk-factors.