A comparison of population-based cancer incidence rates in Israel and Jordan.
Reliable information about comparative cancer incidence in the Middle East has been lacking. The Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC) has formed a network of population-based registries with standardized basic data. Here the age-adjusted cancer incidences are compared for four populations: Israeli Jews, Israeli non-Jews, Jordanians and the US Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) population, for the years 1996-1997 (Israel) and 1996-1998 (other populations). The all-sites rate of cancer is approximately twice as high in Israeli Jews and SEER, compared with Israeli non-Jews and Jordanians. Rates of lung cancer are similar among Israeli Jews and non-Jews and about twice as high as in Jordanians. Childhood leukaemia rates in Jordan are higher than in Israeli Jews, but lower than SEER. Hodgkin lymphoma rates in Israeli non-Jews and Jordanians are similar to SEER, but non-Hodgkin lymphoma rates are lower than SEER. The previous suspicion of higher overall leukaemia and lymphoma rates in Jordan is thus not confirmed.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007585:Jews; D007597:Jordan / Q000453:epidemiology; D007938:Leukemia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012042:Registries / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018426:SEER Program