title: Cervical, uterine corpus, and ovarian cancer mortality in Greece during 1980 to 2005: a trend analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of the present study was to analyze cervical, uterine corpus, and ovarian cancer mortality, between 1980 and 2005, in Greece.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mortality data and population age distribution were provided by the National Statistical Service of Greece. Time trends of mortality were calculated for each tumor type per 100,000 women in the whole female population of Greece, and 2 different age groups, that is, women aged 49 years and younger and those 50 years and older. Joinpoint regression was used for further analysis of mortality trends.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, cervical and uterine corpus cancer mortality in the whole female population of Greece had a slightly decreasing trend between 1980 and 2005, whereas ovarian cancer mortality rates increased steadily throughout the period studied. Subgroup analyses according to age showed that cervical cancer mortality decreased very slightly only in women older than 50 years, whereas it remained steady in younger women. Uterine corpus cancer mortality decreased slightly in both age groups, but increased during the last years of the study period in the older age group. Ovarian cancer mortality increased in women older than 50 years, whereas it remained steady in the younger age group. Joinpoint regression analysis showed that only the increase after 1997 in the mortality trend for uterine corpus cancer in women 50 years and older was statistically significant (P = 0.0044).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although our findings regarding cervical cancer mortality in Greece are encouraging, still more efforts are needed, particularly in preventing cervical cancer in younger women. The increasing trend of uterine corpus and ovarian cancer mortality in older women suggests that development of well-organized tertiary centers for the implementation of modern therapeutic modalities is urgently needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Hippokrateion Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Evangelia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pavlidou
authors.forename: Menelaos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zafrakas
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papadakis
authors.forename: Alexios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benos
authors.forename: Theodoros
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Agorastos
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D012042:Registries; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*