Cancer mortality in Sweden from 1931 to 1992
Keywords:
cancer, mortality, trend, men, women, data quality, SwedenAbstract
Trends in age-standardized cancer mortality for Swedish men and women, between 1931 and 1992, were studied using official cause of death statistics. Overall, age-standardized cancer mortality increased by about 16 percent among men and decreased by about six percent among women during the period studied. Among both men and women older than 70 years, age-standardized cancer mortality increased. In all other age groups decreases occurred. During the period studied, a number of changes have occurred that affect cause of death registration, for example, changes in classification routines and improved diagnosis. The exact magnitude of these effects on the observed trends is difficult to estimate, but it seems clear that a bias towards increasing age-standardized cancer mortality has been introduced. Furthermore, this bias may be substantial, thus obscuring the real trends in age- standardized cancer mortality.
