Introduction: Cancers of the breast, uterus and ovary are responsible for 30% of the cancer deaths in Spanish women. In recent decades, Spain has experienced important socioeconomic transformations, which may have affected mortality trends. We present the current situation of mortality in Spain due to cancers of the breast, uterus and ovary, as well as trends over 1980-2006.
Methods: Data on population and deaths due to cancers of the breast, uterus and ovary were obtained from records of the National Statistics Institute. Overall and age-specific changes in mortality of these tumors were studied using change-point Poisson regression models.
Results: Breast cancer was responsible for more than 140,000 deaths of females in 1980-2006. Trend analysis of breast cancer mortality of women of all ages showed that rates increased 2.9% annually until 1992 (95% confidence interval (CI)=2.5, 3.3). After 1992, mortality declined steadily at a rate of -2.1% per year (95% CI=-2.4, -1.8). The number of deaths due to cancers of the uterus was 49,287 between the years 1980 and 2006. Uterine cancer mortality registered a steady decrease of -1.9% every year since 1980 (95% CI=-2.1, -1.8). Ovarian cancer caused 36,157 deaths during the same period, with rates in women older than 50 years more than ten-fold those of younger women. Trend analysis showed a sharp increase of mortality up to 1998 (4.4% annually; 95% CI=3.9, 4.8) followed by a stabilization.
Conclusion: The downturn observed in mortality for these tumors mainly reflects improved survival as a result of earlier diagnosis and better cancer treatments. Cancer management is moving in the right direction in Spain.