title: [Municipal distribution and trend of the incidence of stomach cancer in the health area of León, Spain (1994-2008)].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stomach cancer is common and has a high mortality rate. The aim of this study was to analyze the incidence and trend of gastric cancer in the health area of León.
  
  
  METHODS
  We designed an observational descriptive study that included patients enrolled in the Hospital Tumor Registry of the Centro Asistencial Universitario de León with a diagnosis of malignant neoplasm of the stomach (ICD 9-151, ICD10-C16) between 01/01/1994 and 12/31/2008 and resident in the health area of León. The population supplied by Spain's National Institute of Statistics was used as the denominator. The time trend was evaluated with a Poisson regression model. To study the spatial distribution, we estimated municipal relative risks (RR) smoothed by fitting the Besag, York and Mollié model and the posterior probability (PP) of RR>1 using bayesian methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1680 cases were included. The average crude incidence rate was 40.0 new cases per 100,000 in men and 23.5 for women. The incidence decreased by 1.4% per year (men: 1.2%, women: 1.8%). The age adjusted rates (European standard population) decreased from 26.9 (1994-6) to 22.2 (2006-8) new cases per 100,000 population in men and from 13.3 to 9.5 in women. Three geographical areas showed a RR excess with a PP higher than 0.9.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The observed rates are among the highest in Spain and their declining trend is lower than expected. Some municipalities had an excess risk.
authors: Grupo de Investigación en Salud Comunitaria, Instituto de Biomedicina (IBIOMED), Universidad de León, León, España. vmars@unileon.es
authors: Vicente
authors: V
authors: Martín Sánchez
authors: Lidia
authors: L
authors: García Martínez
authors: Tania
authors: T
authors: Fernández Villa
authors: Antonio Jose
authors: AJ
authors: Molina De La Torre
authors: Samara
authors: S
authors: Martín García
authors: Gonzalo
authors: G
authors: López-Abente
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity / Q000639:trends; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult