Incidence and epidemiological features of cancers of the genitourinary tract in Izmir between 1993-2002.

BACKGROUND There is a relative lack of epidemiological data on cancer in Turkey, which is a large country with its 71 million population, since there was not any population-based registry functioning in the country before Izmir Cancer Registry (ICR), which was founded in 1992. The present study focused on the incidence of cancers of the genitourinary tract in Izmir province over a ten year period to cover the gap in this kind of epidemiological data for this part of the world. METHODS ICR is a population-based registry which collects data actively and is running international registration rules during procedures. We evaluated the data for 1993-2002. Annual crude and age-standardized incidence rates were calculated for the whole period and also for earlier and later periods. RESULTS The age-standardized incidence rate (world population) for all sites was 198.3 per 100,000 for males and 116.4 per 100,000 for females. The most common primary sites for men were lung (35.6%), bladder (7.8%), colon and rectum (6.1%), larynx (5.7%) and prostate (5.4%). For women, the principal cancers were breast (28.7%), colon and rectum (7.2%), corpus uteri (5.3%), cervix uteri (4.8%) and lung (4.7%). Urogenital cancers accounted for 11.2% of all new cancer cases for the 1993-2002 period in Izmir. Of all urologic cancer cases, 89.6% were in males and 10.4% were in females. Carcinoma of the bladder was the first among the urogenital cancers in Izmir province (Age standardized incidence rate, world standard population ,17.1 per 100 000). CONCLUSIONS Bladder cancer incidences were quite high, especially for men, and appear to be increasing. Prostate cancer has lower incidence rates as compared to western countries but the trend is for rise. There might be an underestimate of incidences, owing to an inability to use data from death certificates. Even so, the overall profile is an accurate reflection of incidence in this region of Turkey and provides much of the information required for planning strategies for cancer control.