Trends of cancer incidence and mortality in Cali, Colombia. 50 years experience

Abstract

The Population-based Cancer Registry of Cali aims to report all new cases in permanent residents within the limits of the city of Cali. Time trends of cancer incidence and mortality are described. The registry has been in continuous operation for 50 years. Methods: Cancer cases reports are obtained actively by visiting all sources of information: hospitals, pathology departments, hematology laboratories, radiotherapy centers, government offices where death certificates are processed and physician’s offices. It is estimated that the reporting is at least 95% complete. Results: Drastic decreases are documented in rates for tumors causally related to infectious agents, especially cancers of the uterine cervix and the stomach. Gradual increases are documented in rates of tumors linked to affluence and the metabolic syndrome, especially cancers of the colon and the female breast. An unexpected increase in the incidence of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland in women is reported. Tobacco-related cancers, especially cancer of the lung, showed marked increase in incidence rates around 1970, apparently the beginning of an epidemic similar to the one reported in Western societies. But the increase in incidence stopped around 1980, resulting from a strong anti-smoking campaign launched in Colombia in the 1970s. Conclusions: The findings have influenced prevention strategies implemented by public health authorities, specially the establishment of a city-wide program to prevent cervix cancer via widespread use of vaginal cytology and anti-smoking campaigns. Also, new population-based cancer registries have been established in other Colombian cities as well as in Ecuador.

Incidencia, mortalidad y supervivencia por cáncer colorrectal en Cali, Colombia, 1962-2012

“…Los detalles con respecto a la historia, objetivos, logística y cobertura del RPCC han sido previamente descritos. 5 Los indicadores de exhaustividad y calidad se han publicado previamente 5 y para el quinquenio 2003-2007 la proporción de casos de CCR con verificación histológica fue 86.9%, certificado de defunción como única evidencia de cáncer 3.5% y la razón mortalidad/incidencia, 0.48. Los procedimientos fueron avalados por el Comité Institucional de Revisión de Ética Humana de la Facultad de Salud de la Universidad del Valle.…”

Descriptive epidemiology of childhood cancer in Cali, Colombia 1977-2011

“…Information on cancer incidence and mortality for all the tumor types in subjects less than 15 years of age was obtained from the Cancer population registry of Cali (RPCC) databases and the Municipal department of health (MDH) 12 . Briefly, RPCC is a cancer population-based database established in 1962 that obtains continuous information on the incidence of all cancer types for the urban population of Cali.…”

Burden of breast cancer in Cali, Colombia: 1962-2012

“…Similarly, incidence data and data quality indices for these data have been previously published in all nine volumes of Cancer Incidence in Five Continents. 12 For the last period (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007), the percentage of BC cases morphologically verified was 95.6%; the mortality to incidence ratio (M:I) was 30.8% and the percentage of records abstracted from death certificates only (DCO) was 0.7%. A high quality index was observed for cancer death registration with 92.8% of the cancer deaths properly certified.…”