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Erschienen in:
01.04.2011 | Original Article
Time Trends of Mortality from Gastric Cancer in Europe
Erschienen in: Digestive Diseases and Sciences | Ausgabe 4/2011
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Background
The time trends of gastric and duodenal ulcer disease are shaped by a birth-cohort phenomenon.
Aims
The aim of this study was to assess the extent by which a birth-cohort phenomenon also affected the long-term time trends of gastric cancer among different European countries.
Methods
Mortality data from France, Germany, Netherlands, Scotland, Spain, and Sweden of the past 56–85 years were analyzed. The age-specific death rates were plotted against the period of death as period-age contours and against the period of birth as cohort-age contours.
Results
The long-term time trends of gastric cancer mortality were found to have risen among generations born during the 18th century until the mid-19th century and then to have declined in all subsequent generations. The rise and fall of gastric cancer preceded similar birth-cohort patterns of gastric and duodenal ulcer by about 10–30 years. With the exception of gastric cancer in Germany, similar birth-cohort phenomena were found in all countries, as well as in men and women.
Conclusions
The time trends of mortality from gastric cancer and peptic are shaped by birth-cohort patterns that have affected all countries of Europe. It remains an enigma why mortality associated with gastric cancer and peptic ulcer suddenly started to rise within a short time period during the 19th century.