2025
Date published: 2025
Research summary
The Canadian Forces Cancer and Mortality Study (CFCAMS) aims to characterize various types of mortality and cancer incidence among personnel and Veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The CFCAMS is based on an interdepartmental record linkage of administrative data from the CAF to national cancer and mortality data from Statistics Canada.
What is this research about?
This research uses CFCAMS data to examine the overall incidence of new primary cancers in CAF personnel and Veterans. It also looks at the types of cancers experienced. This research is the first time that cancer incidence has been reported for both male and female CAF personnel and Veterans.
What did the researchers do?
The researchers identified and analyzed new cancer diagnoses for serving CAF personnel and Veterans who first enrolled between 1976 and 2016. All analyses were carried out separately for males and females. Subgroup analyses were also conducted by rank, international deployment status, and by serving personnel versus Veterans. Comparisons were also made to the Canadian general population (CGP).
What did the researchers find?
The study found that over this 41-year period, for cancers overall and for most specific cancer types, male and female CAF personnel and Veterans had lower or similar risk compared to their Canadian counterparts. However, increased risks were observed for certain cancer types and subgroups of CAF populations as outlined below.
Males:
- Out of 210,910 male CAF personnel and Veterans in the study population, 6,415 had developed cancer
- Analyses of all serving male CAF personnel showed that:
- they had a lower overall risk of cancer than the male CGP (0.85 times lower);
- they had s similar or lower risk for most cancer types except for melanoma, where risk was 1.47 times higher than the male CGP; and
- their most common types of cancer were cancer of the testis, followed by melanoma and prostate cancer.
- Analyses of all male CAF Veterans showed that:
- they a lower overall risk of cancer than the male CGP (0.93 times lower);
- they had a similar or lower risk for all cancer types when compared to the male CGP; and
- their most common types of cancer were prostate cancer, followed by colorectal cancer, and lung and bronchus cancer.
- Subgroup analyses of both male CAF serving personnel and Veterans combined showed higher risk (compared to the male CGP) of:
- melanoma in senior non-commissioned members, officers, and those with a history of international deployment or posting;
- pancreatic and lung and bronchus cancer in junior non-commissioned members; and
- cancer of the testis in officers.
Females:
- Out of 34,940 female CAF personnel and Veterans in the study cohort, 1,620 had developed cancer
- Analyses of all serving female CAF personnel showed that:
- they had a similar overall risk of cancer to the female CGP;
- they had a similar or lower risk for most cancer types except for melanoma, where risk was 1.54 times higher than the female CGP; and
- their most common types of cancer were breast cancer, followed by thyroid cancer and melanoma
- Analyses of all female CAF Veterans showed that:
- they had a lower overall risk of cancer than the female CGP (0.93 times lower);
- they had a similar or lower risk for all cancer types when compared to the female CGP; and
- their most common types of cancer were breast cancer, followed by lung and bronchus cancer, and colorectal cancer.
- Subgroups analyses of both female CAF serving personnel and Veterans combined showed higher risk (compared to the female CGP) of:
- melanoma in officers and those with a history of international deployment or posting;
- lung and bronchus cancer in junior non-commissioned members; and
- cervical cancer in junior non-commissioned members and those with a history of international deployment or posting.
The Department of National Defence, Veterans Affairs Canada and Statistics Canada are partners in this work with the ultimate goal of enhancing cancer prevention efforts, as well as health services and benefits for CAF members and Veterans.
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Source
Jones AM, Cousineau-Short D, Galanakis C, Weiss D, Hall AL. Cancer incidence in male and female Canadian Armed Forces personnel and Veterans enrolled between 1976 and 2016: a retrospective population-based cohort study.
Occupational and Environmental Medicine Published Online First: 12 March 2025. doi: 10.1136/oemed-2024-109924