[Estimate of cancer incidence in Italian regions, 2001].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the present paper is to calculate cancer incidence estimates in the italian regions for the year 2001.


METHODS
Estimates are computed according to the mortality/incidence (M/I) ratio method. Observed data were from Italian areas covered by cancer registration and recently published by Cancer Registries Network (1993-1998), by the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS), that published mortality statistics for the year 1998, and by the National Institute of Statistics (Istat) that provided population figures for the year 2001. Regression coefficients of the M/I ratios specific by cancer site, age class, sex and geographical area were computed and then applied to the observed mortality in the Italian regions in the year 1998. The estimated number of new cancer cases was then computed multiplying the estimated rates for the regional populations in the year 2001, as published by Istat.


RESULTS
The total number of estimated new cancers (with the exclusion of skin cancers) in Italy was approximately 160,000 in men and 130,000 in women. The population of the Liguria region, older than other Italian regional populations, showed the highest crude rates, while its risk is similar compared to other Northern regions, as indicated by age-standardised rates. The most frequent tumour sites are the lung cancer (29,500 cases), the colon-rectum cancer (19,900 cases) and the prostate cancer (19,600 cases) in men; the breast cancer (35,000 cases), the colon-rectum cancer (19,500 cases) and the stomach cancer (6,800 cases) in women. The invasive cervical cancer, largely preventable with early diagnosis, is still responsible for approximately 3,000 new cases yearly.


CONCLUSIONS
Incidence estimates are a useful tool for a better management of health resources. Treatment costs for tumour patients are generally high in the first period for diagnosis and principal treatment, while they fade during follow-up and remission. Costs increase during the terminal phase of disease. In the first period, costs can be predicted thanks to incidence estimates, while in the last period mortality data are more useful.
Rosso
Stefano
S
Registro tumori Piemonte, Centro di prevenzione oncologica, Torino, Italia. stefano.rosso@cpo.it
Spitale
Alessandra
A
Balzi
Daniela
D
Franceschi
Silvia
S
Zanetti
Roberto
R
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*