Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Franca Lucchini

Publications and source records attributed to Franca Lucchini.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

Trends in laryngeal cancer mortality in Europe.

After a steady increase since the 1950s, laryngeal cancer mortality had tended to level off since the early 1980s in men from most European countries. To update trends in laryngeal cancer mortality in Europe, age-standardized (world standard) mortality rates per 100,000 were derived from the WHO mortality database for 33 European countries over the period 1980-2001. Jointpoint analysis was used to identify significant changes in mortality rates. In the European Union (EU) as a whole, male mortality declined by 0.8% per year between 1980 and 1989, by 2.8% between 1989 and 1995, by 5.3% between 1995 and 1998, and by 1.5% thereafter (rates were 5.1/100,000 in 1980-1981 and 3.3/100,000 in 2000-2001). This mainly reflects a decrease in rates in men from western and southern European countries, which had exceedingly high rates in the past. Male laryngeal mortality rose up to the early 1990s, and leveled off thereafter in several countries from central and eastern Europe. In 2000-2001 there was still a 10-15-fold variation in male laryngeal mortality between the highest rates in Croatia (7.9/100,000) and Hungary (7.7/100,000) and the lowest ones in Sweden (0.5/100,000) and Finland (0.8/100,000). Laryngeal cancer mortality was comparatively low in women from most European countries, with stable rates around 0.3/100,000 in the EU as a whole over the last 2 decades. Laryngeal cancer trends should be interpreted in terms of patterns and changes in exposure to alcohol and tobacco. Despite recent declines, the persistence of a wide variability in male laryngeal cancer mortality indicates that there is still ample scope for prevention of laryngeal cancer in Europe.

Adult↗

Trends in cancer mortality in Switzerland, 1980-2001.

Trends in cancer mortality in Switzerland were analysed over the period 1980-2001, on the basis of the World Health Organization database. Appropriately developed correction factors were utilized for the period before 1995, to allow for spurious trends introduced by the change between the 8th and the 10th revisions of the ICD. Steady declines in cancer mortality were observed, particularly from the mid-1980s onwards. Over the last decade, the fall in overall age-standardized (world standard) cancer mortality was 11.1% in men (from 158.1 in 1990-1991 to 140.6/100,000 in 2000-2001) and 7.6% in women (from 91.6 to 84.7/100,000), and the decline was larger in truncated rates from 35 to 64 years (-18.0 and -9.7%). In men, all major tobacco and alcohol neoplasms have declined until the late 1990s but have levelled off over the last few years, reflecting recent trends in alcohol and tobacco consumption. The fall in male lung cancer mortality was 20% over the last decade (from 42.9 to 34.3/100,000). In contrast, lung cancer mortality in women has steadily increased by 38% between 1981 and 1991 and by 47% between 1991 and 2001, to reach 10.7/100,000 at all ages and 18.3 at age 35 to 64, due to increased prevalence of smoking in subsequent generations of Swiss women. Other sites showing substantial declines include stomach and colorectum in both sexes, (cervix) uteri and breast in women. Likewise, prostate cancer showed modest favourable trends after 1995. Steady declines were observed for leukaemias, Hodgkin's disease and testicular cancer, namely, the neoplasms most influenced by therapeutic improvements, while trends in lymphomas and myeloma showed no clear pattern.

Adult↗

Converging patterns of colorectal cancer mortality in Europe.

Trends in mortality rates from colorectal cancer during the second half of the 20th century were analysed for 21 European countries and grouped in three broad European regions. For each gender, age-standardised (world standard population) mortality rates were computed by the direct method, and joinpoint analysis was used to identify significant changes in rates. A favourable pattern in colorectal cancer mortality for both genders was observed in most European countries from the 1990s onwards. Colorectal cancer mortality rates were still in the upward direction in some Eastern European countries, as well as in some Mediterranean countries. Mortality rates tended to converge at around 20/100000 in men and around 11/100000 in women. This converging pattern is even clearer when colorectal mortality rates are examined in three broad European regions. Similar mortality rates over recent calendar years have been reached by countries where mortality has been decreasing in recent decades and in those countries (mainly Eastern European and Mediterranean countries) which have experienced a recent levelling-off and decrease. If recent trends are maintained, colorectal cancer mortality is likely to decline further in Europe in the current decade.

Adult↗

Monitoring the decrease in breast cancer mortality in Europe.

Trends in mortality from breast cancer over the period 1970-2000 were analysed for 38 European countries and the European Union (EU). Age-standardized mortality rates were computed by the direct method, and joinpoint analysis was used to identify significant changes in rates. A favourable pattern in breast cancer mortality in the 25 countries of the EU (as defined in May 2004) was observed after 1989, leading to a fall in overall rates from 21.3/100,000 in 1990 to 18.9 in 2000. The annual percentage change in the EU was -2.1% between 1995 and 2000. Most northern European countries, including several Scandinavian countries and the UK, but also some central and southern European countries like Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Spain showed appreciable falls in rates (i.e. between 8 and 19% in the last 5 calendar years). The declines were larger below age 50, approaching 20% in several countries. The falls were smaller in France, Greece, Portugal and most eastern European countries. In the Russian Federation, all-age breast cancer mortality increased from 16.1 to 17.3/100,000 (+7.5% over the last 5 calendar years). These patterns reflect converging trends in breast cancer rates across Europe, which can be related to the more uniform reproductive and lifestyle habits. The fall in breast cancer mortality observed in most European countries over the last decade has to be attributed to earlier detection and improved treatment, although the definite reasons for the different trends in various countries remain at least in part unclear.

Adult↗

Trends in mortality from major cancers in the European Union, including acceding countries, in 2004.

BACKGROUND: In May 2004, 10 additional countries joined the European Union (EU), including a total of 75 million inhabitants. Most of these were from central and eastern European countries with comparably high cancer mortality rates and with relatively unfavorable trends. Therefore, it is important to provide updated mortality data regarding major cancers in various countries and to analyze trends for the current population of the EU. METHODS: The authors considered mortality rates (directly standardized to the world standard population) for all cancers and for 8 major cancer sites in the year 2000 in the 25 countries of the EU and analyzed corresponding trends since 1980 using data derived from the World Health Organization data base. RESULTS: For men, overall cancer mortality in the year 2000 varied by a factor > 2 between the highest rate of 258.5 per 100,000 men in Hungary and the lowest rate of 122.0 per 100,000 men in Sweden. Central and Eastern European accession countries had the highest rates not only for lung and other tobacco-related cancers but also for gastrointestinal cancers and leukemias. The geographic pattern was different and the range of variation was smaller for women, i.e., between 136.7 per 100,000 women in Denmark and 76.4 per 100,000 women in Spain in the year 2000. In the EU as a whole, lung cancer mortality in men peaked at 55.4 per 100,000 men in 1988 and declined thereafter to 46.7 per 100,000 men in 2000. Gastric cancer steadily declined from 19.7 per 100,000 men in 1980 to 10.1 per 100,000 men in 2000. Other major sites showed moderately favorable trends over the last few years. In women, breast cancer peaked at 21.7 per 100,000 in 1989 and declined to 18.9 per 100,000 in 2000. Mortality from gastric, (cervix) uterus, and intestinal cancers demonstrated steady decreases, but lung cancer increased from 7.7 per 100,000 women in 1980 to 11.1 per 100,000 women in 2000. The increase in lung cancer mortality in women age < 55 years was 38% between 1990 and 2000 (from 2.16 per 100,000 women to 2.99 per 100,000 women), reflecting the spread of tobacco smoking among women in the EU over the last few decades. CONCLUSIONS: The priority for further reduction of cancer mortality in the EU remains tobacco control together with more widespread availability of modern diagnostic and treatment procedures for neoplasms that are amenable to treatment.

Adolescent↗

Leveling of prostate cancer mortality in Western Europe.

BACKGROUND: Mortality from prostate cancer (CaP) has increased throughout Europe until the early 1990s. Trends in 24 European countries, the European Union (EU), six selected Central and Eastern European countries, and the Russian Federation have been updated to 1999. METHODS: Cancer death certification data for CaP were abstracted from the World Health Organization database. RESULTS: In the EU, the peak rate (15.7/100,000) was reached in 1993, followed by a leveling off and a decline to 14.1/100,000 in 1999. Age-standardized analysis for each subsequent age group of men aged 50 or over showed larger absolute falls in the elderly. CaP rates were lower in Central and Eastern European countries providing data, but showed a rise from 9.7/100,000 in 1980 to 11.3 in 1996, and leveled off thereafter. Rates were originally lower, but the rises larger in the Russian Federation (from 5.1/100,000 in 1980 to 8.1/100,000 in 1999). In the late 1990s, there was a threefold difference between the highest rates of 22/100,000 in Norway and those of 7.7 in Russia or 7.3 in Ukraine. Such a difference was, however, restricted to the elderly, since at age 35-64 the Russian rate (6.7/100,000) was the same as that of Norway, and only Greece and Italy had appreciably lower rates. CONCLUSION: The pattern of trends in CaP rates observed across Europe is consistent with a favorable role of improved diagnosis, but mainly of advancements of therapy (including more widespread adoption of radical prostatectomy and androgen blockage) on CaP mortality in Western Europe.

Adolescent↗

Cancer mortality in Europe, 1995-1999, and an overview of trends since 1960.

Mortality data, abstracted from the World Health Organization database, are presented in tabular form for 26 cancer sites or groups of sites, plus total cancer mortality, in 36 European countries during the period 1995-1999. Trends in mortality are also given in graphic form for 23 major countries plus the European Union as a whole over the period 1960-1999. In the European Union, total cancer mortality declined by 7% for both sexes over the last 5 years considered. The fall since the late 1980s was 10% in both sexes, corresponding to the avoidance of over 90000 deaths per year, as compared to the rates of the late 1980s. For the first time, over the last few years, some leveling of mortality was reported also in the Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and other Eastern European countries, although cancer rates in those areas remain exceedingly high. The overall favorable pattern of cancer mortality over recent years is largely driven by the decline of tobacco-related cancer mortality in men. However, important components of the trends are also the persistence of substantial falls in gastric cancer, mainly in Russia and Eastern Europe, the recent decline in intestinal cancer in both sexes and of breast cancer in women, together with the long-term falls in uterine (cervical) cancer, leukemias, Hodgkin's disease and other neoplasms amenable to advancements in diagnosis and treatment. Female lung cancer mortality has been declining in the Russian Federation, but is still rising in other areas of the continent. Thus, urgent intervention is needed to bring under control the tobacco-related lung cancer epidemic in European women before it reaches the high level observed in North America. Supplementary material for this article can be found on the International Journal of Cancer website at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/0020-7136/suppmat/index.html

Europe↗

Trends in oral cancer mortality in Europe.

Mortality from oral cancer has been rising appreciably in most European countries up to the late 1980s, essentially for men. To update trends in oral cancer, death certification data from oral and pharyngeal cancer for 27 European countries were abstracted and analysed from the WHO mortality database over the period 1980-99. Oral cancer mortality in men has started to decline since the late 1980s in most western countries, although some persisting upward trends were registered for Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Portugal, or Scotland. Persisting rises were observed for most central and eastern Europe up to the mid 1990s, reaching exceedingly high rates in Hungary (20.2/100000 at all ages, 51.4 at age 35-64), Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Russian Federation. Some levelling of rates in some countries, such as Poland or the Czech Republic, was observed over more recent calendar years. Oral cancer was low, but moderately upwards in European women, mainly from central and eastern Europe. These trends should be essentially interpreted in terms of patterns and changes in exposure to alcohol and tobacco, and call for urgent control of these factors, as well as for improved diagnosis and management of oral cancer in central and eastern Europe.

Adult↗

Mortality from cutaneous malignant melanoma in Europe. Has the epidemic levelled off?

Trends of mortality from cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) between 1960 and 1999 in several European countries and the European Union (EU) as a whole have been reviewed, using death certification data for skin cancer available from the World Health Organization. Separate analyses were performed for young (i.e., age 20-44 years) and middle-aged (i.e., age 45-64 years) adults, among whom around 80-90% of skin cancer deaths are attributable to CMM. After steady rises between 1960 and 1990, skin cancer rates among young adults have tended to decline since the mid-1990s in several European countries, with a fall of 14% in men and of 11% in women in the EU as a whole. In middle-aged adults, the trends were less favourable, although mortality started to level off since the mid-1990s. Thus, our data provide further evidence of an improvement of CMM mortality trends in recent years in several European countries. The particularly favourable trends in young people suggest that a further decline in mortality from CMM in Europe is likely to occur within the next few years.

Adult↗

Recent trends in mortality from benign prostatic hyperplasia.

BACKGROUND: We have considered trends in mortality from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) over the last decades in Europe and, for comparative purposes, the USA and Japan. METHODS: Cancer death certification data for benign prostatic hyperplasia were derived from the World Health Organisation database. RESULTS: Between the early 1950s and the late 1990s, overall mortality from BPH in the European Union (EU) fell from 5.9 to 3.5 per million, and the decline since the late 1950s was over 96%. Comparable falls were observed in the USA and Japan, and BPH mortality rates in the late 1990s were lower than in the EU (1.8/10(6) in the USA, 1.4 in Japan). BPH mortality trends were downwards also in the Eastern Europe, although rates in the late 1990s were about fourfold higher than in the EU. CONCLUSION: BPH rates have been steadily declining in developed countries. The excess BPH mortality in Eastern Europe indicates the scope for further reduction too.

Aged↗

Pancreatic cancer mortality in Europe: the leveling of an epidemic.

Mortality rates from pancreatic cancer have increased throughout Europe between the late 1950s and the 1980s. Trends in 22 European countries, the European Union (EU) and 6 selected eastern European countries have been updated using official death certification data for pancreatic cancer abstracted from the WHO database over the period 1980 to 1999. In EU men, a rise from 7.2 to 7.5/100,000 was observed between the early and the late 1980s, followed by a leveling off in the 1990s. For women, rates tended to rise up to the early 1990s, and to level off thereafter around 4.7/100,000. In eastern countries, rates for both sexes rose between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s, and leveled off thereafter around 8.5/100,000 men and 5/100,000 women. Thus, rates for men only were higher in Eastern Europe than in the EU. This analysis first documents a leveling of pancreatic cancer mortality in Europe, after decades of steady rises. This is partly or largely attributable to the decline in smoking, at least in men, but other factors, including mainly nutrition and diet, may also have played some role on these trends.

Adult↗

Cancer mortality in the European Union, 1988-1997: the fall may approach 80,000 deaths a year.

After the peak rate of cancer mortality reached in 1988 in the European Union, steady declines were observed: 9.1% for both sexes combined over the period 1988-1997 (from 147.0 to 133.6/100,000, world standard), corresponding to the avoidance of about 80,000 deaths in 1997 (approximately 39,000 below age 65 and 41,000 above). In 1997, the total number of cancer deaths also declined, for the first time. The major determining cancers for these favorable trends were stomach (-30%), lung (-10%), intestines (-15%), breast (-10%), uterus (mainly cervix; -22%), leukemias (-10%) and, after 1995, prostate (-3%).

Age Factors↗

Trends in mortality from non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

Trends in death certification rates from non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) were analyzed on the basis of the World Health Organization database over the period 1969-1998. Until the late 1970s, mortality from NHL was similar in the European Union (EU), the USA and Japan, i.e. around 3/100,000 males and 2/100,000 females. Over the last two decades, NHL mortality in the EU rose to 4.4/100,000 males and 2.8/100,000 females. Upward trends were greater in the USA, whose rates approached 6/100,000 males and 4/100,000 females in the late 1990s, and were observed in Japan, too.

Adolescent↗