Cancer incidence and mortality in Barranquilla, Colombia. 2008-2012

OBJECTIVE: To describe cancer incidence and mortality during the 2008-2012 period in the District of Barranquilla. METHODS: Cancer incident cases were collected, analyzed and processed by the Barranquilla Population Cancer Registry during the study period. Population structure was obtained from the Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadìsticas (DANE) and mortality from the Sistema de Información de Cáncer en Colombia. The total and specific crude and specific incidence rates and mortality by age and gender were estimated, as well as by-age standardized incidence rates. Statistical analysis were performed with SPSS V24 and Canreg5. RESULTS: 8,182 cases of cancer were identified, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer (62.8% in women). 83.0% of the tumors had histological verification and only 5.2% were DCO. The adjusted incidence rate for all tumors was 116.5 per 100,000 in men and 155.4 per 100,000 in women. The most frequent locations were prostate and trachea-bronchi-lung in men, while in women, breast and cervix occupied the first places. Breast and prostate had the highest mortality rates in women and men, respectively. CONCLUSION: Specific behavior of cancer incidence and mortality in Barranquilla has important increases for the main types of tumors (breast and prostate) when compared to the country and other population registries. To provide data is key to showing a representative behavior of the Colombian Caribbean.