MINIMAL ANNUAL INCIDENCE RATE OF OESOPHAGEAL CARCINOMA: ADULT POPULATION IN MAZANDARAN PROVINCE (1992-1998) - NORTH OF IRAN

K HAJIAN

Abstract


Introduction. According to previous reports, oesophageal cancer has the highest incidence rate in the north of Iran. The objective of this study was to estimate the minimal annual incidence rate of oesophageal carcinoma in the province of Mazandaran.
Methods: Based on the existing data, the hospital chart data of 570 patients with osophageal carcinoma were examined. These patients were residence of Mazandaran and they were referred to Shahid Rajee Babolsar radiotherapy centre during 1982 to 1988. The distribution of population under study with respect to the age, sex and residence area was obtained from census data in 1996.
Results. The minmal incidence rate was 8.83 per 100,000 subjects (9.73 for men vs 7.93 for women). The most common age group of patients was 60-69 years. The highest incidence rate was observed in the age group of 70-79 years (37.88 per 100,000 subjects). With increasing the age, the incidence rate was significantly increased up to 80 years. Among patients with age over 60 years old, the incidence rate was higher in male compared with female. However, among patients with age less than 60 years, the difference in incidence rate was not statistically significant. Thus, the mean age of male patients was significantly higher than those female. We also did not observed a significant difference on incidence rate between urban and rural residence area.
Discussion. The minimal incidence rate of oesophageal cancinoma is significantly higher than those reported in the North America and European countries. However, it was obviously much less than those reported (up to 184 cases per 100,0000) in north of Iran. Therefore, it is necessary to revise the incidence rate of population under study in reference data. We still need to study at population base and to estimate the incidence rate of oesphageal carcinoma in high incidence area (Gonbad and Gorgan) in the north of Iran.

Keywords


Oesophageal Carcinoma, Minimal annual incidence rate, Mazandaran. Iran