Objective: To describe the secular trend of cancer incidence in Catalonia and to compare it with that observed in European regions.
Material and method: Using data from the Tarragona and Gerona cancer registries, the number of cases, adjusted rates, and the annual percentages of change in cancer incidence in Catalonia for the period 1985-2002 were estimated. Cancer incidence trends in Catalonia, Spain, and four European regions were compared using variations in the adjusted rates between the periods 1993-1997 and 1998-2002.
Results: The number of invasive cancers increased from 15,773 in 1985 to 30,755 in 2002. The adjusted incidence rate showed an annual increase of 2.64% in males and of 1.81% in females. Almost all tumoral types showed an increasing trend. The most frequent malignant tumors in males were prostate, lung, colon and rectum, and urinary bladder tumors, showing increases of 8.74%, 1.67%, 3.47% and 4.32% respectively. The most frequent tumors in females were breast, colon and rectum and corpus uterine tumors, showing increases of 2.45%, 1.67% and 0.78%, respectively. In males, Catalonia showed lower annual incidence rates than the remaining European regions in 1985 and higher rates in 2002. In females, rates remained lower than in other European regions.
Conclusions: In Catalonia, the number of incident cancers increased because of population growth and aging, greater exposure to risk factors and, for some cancer types, higher detection rates. Overall cancer incidence trends followed a similar pattern to those of southern Europe, with higher increases than in the remaining European regions, especially in males.