Geographical Variations in Mortality From Cancer in Iceland, With Particular Reference to Stomach Cancer

• Published in: JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute
• Main Author: Sigurjonsson, Julius
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1966
• Subjects: Articles; Iceland
• Online Access: http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/37/3/337; https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/37.3.337

In the study of geographical distribution of deaths from cancer in Iceland, an attempt was made to check the comparability of recording in the different areas. Because of underrecording, to a varying extent, of cancer in old persons, deaths at ages 0–64 formed a better basis for comparison of cancer mortality than deaths at all ages. Mortality from stomach cancer was particularly high in the northwestern part of Iceland, the standard mortality ratio for ages up to 64 being 139.5 in 1931–60. In Reykjavik the ratio was 84.7. In both instances the deviation from expected mortality was of considerable statistical significance. Corresponding, but less marked, differences emerged for all cancer of the digestive organs, and the peritoneum. Deaths from all cancers, however, did not show significant variations. The standard mortality ratios for ages 0–64 were somewhat higher for stomach cancer in rural areas than in urban, although no clear-cut urban-rural difference was revealed by the ratios for all ages. Urban-rural differences in mortality from all cancers were not apparent.