title: An age-period-cohort analysis of gastric cancer mortality from 1950 to 2007 in Europe.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the components of the favorable trends in gastric cancer in Europe.
  
  
  METHODS
  From official certified deaths from gastric cancer and population estimates for 42 countries of the European geographical region, during the period 1950 to 2007, age-standardized death rates (World Standard Population) were computed, and an age-period-cohort analysis was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Central and Northern countries with lower rates in the 2005 to 2007 period, such as France (5.28 and 1.93/100,000, men and women respectively) and Sweden (4.49 and 2.21/100,000), had descending period and cohort effects that decreased steeply from the earliest cohorts until those born in the 1940s, to then stabilize. Former nonmarket economy countries had mortality rates greater than 20/100,000 men and 10/100,000 women, and displayed a later start in the cohort effect fall, which continued in the younger cohorts. Mortality remained high in some countries of Southern and Eastern Europe.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The decrease in gastric cancer mortality was observed in both cohort and period effects but was larger in the cohorts, suggesting that the downward trends are likely to persist in countries with higher rates. In a few Western countries with very low rates an asymptote appears to have been reached for cohorts born after the 1940s, particularly in women.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Via Giuseppe La Masa 19, 20156 Milano, Italia.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malvezzi
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bonifazi
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bertuccio
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Levi
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: La Vecchia
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Decarli
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Negri
mesh_terms: D015988:Cohort Effect; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003644:Death Certificates; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality*