title: [Time trend of breast cancer incidence in Catalonia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Time trend of breast cancer incidence in Catalonia in the last 20 years is evaluated by a age-period-cohort model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women older than 25 years diagnosed with breast cancer between 1980 and 1999 in the population covered by Tarragona and Girona population-based cancer registries. To investigate the age, period and birth cohort effect in the time trends of breast cancer incidence, Decarli and La Vecchia and Holdford's methods were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The world age-standardized rate (25 to > or = 85 years old) has increased from 53.9 cases per 100,000 women-year in the period 1980-1984 to 83.9 per 100,000 women-year in the period 1995-1999. The annual percentage change was 2.2% (95% confidence interval, 1.8-2.6). According to age-period-cohort model an increment of the incidence exists depending on age and birth cohort, being the period effect less important.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Breast cancer incidence has significantly increased in Catalonia. The birth cohort seems to be more important than the period effect in this increment, which supposes a change on the prevalence of the risk factor, although the use of screening diagnosis techniques might explain a part of the period effect.
authors.affiliation: Unitat d'Epidemiologia i Registre de Càncer de Girona, Institut Català d'Oncologia, Girona, Spain. aizquierdo@ico.scs.es
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Izquierdo
authors.forename: Juan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Víctor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: Jaume
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Galceran
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marcos-Gragera
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Clèries
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Borràs
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D013030:Spain; D013997:Time Factors