Cancer risk following a community-based programme to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
BACKGROUND
The North Karelia project, a community-based programme for prevention of cardiovascular diseases in North Karelia in 1972-1977, was successful in reducing some major cardiovascular risk factors. It was studied whether changes in the incidence of smoking- or diet-related cancers in North Karelia were different from those in a reference area without a programme.


METHODS
Poisson age-period-cohort-county regression models were fitted to each cancer-sex combination. Specially designed variables were added to the best models to detect any post-programme changes in the incidence trend in North Karelia.


RESULTS
After having been consistently higher, the incidence of lung cancer among males in North Karelia decreased below that of the reference county during 1987-1991. The programme-related risk ratio in 1987-1991 indicated a significant 20% beneficial effect. The trend in stomach cancer among males was more favourable in the reference county than in North Karelia.


CONCLUSIONS
The quicker reduction in smoking may have caused the more favourable trend of lung cancer among North Karelian males than males in the reference county.
Luostarinen
T
T
Finnish Cancer Registry, Helsinki, Finland.
Hakulinen
T
T
Pukkala
E
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D016540:Smoking Cessation