The incidence of gestational trophoblastic disease in Italy: a multicenter survey.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the incidence of gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) in Italy and identify problems in data retrieval.


METHODS
The number of all GTD cases recorded from January 2005 to December 2009 was retrieved from pathology department databases of 39 hospitals located in different regions of Italy. The number of total pregnancies registered in each hospital was requested. Regional and National Institute for Statistics Registries on demographics and pregnancies data were used to reach the best estimate of the population at risk for GTD.


RESULTS
The raw number of all GTD cases recorded was 1,297 (951 partial moles, 329 complete moles, 17 choriocarcinomas) over 5 years. The 15-49-year-old female resident population living in the hospitals' referral areas was of 2,570,313 women (18.3% of the total).


CONCLUSIONS
The rate of complete hydatidiform mole was 0.5/1,000 pregnancies and 0.8/1,000 deliveries. The rate of choriocarcinoma was 0.013/1,000 pregnancies and 0.030/1,000 deliveries. The rate of GTD was 2.3/10,000 women aged 15-49 years. A frequent cause of incompleteness or lack of GTD cases in data retrieval was due to encoding. Problems in identification of the population at risk originated often from incomplete or incomparable data on number of pregnancies among different Institutions.
Department of Anatomic Pathology, Histology and Cytology, Maggiore Hospital, Bologna, Italy. ansal1@libero.it
Angela
A
Salerno
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002822:Choriocarcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D031901:Gestational Trophoblastic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D006828:Hydatidiform Mole / Q000453:epidemiology; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology