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Cancer Ventriculi Mortality in Different Population Groups. Cancer Ventriculi Mortality in Various Parts of Oslo, 1930-50

1955; Springer Nature; Volume: 9; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/bjc.1955.2

1532-1827

S Rennæs, E W Østberg,

Aging and Gerontology Research

IT is generally recognized that total mortality varies considerably for different population groups.It has, however, become more evenly distributed in recent years, but is still higher in the cities than in the country.The present paper is an attempt to examine statistically the mortality among various population groups for a particular cause of death-cancer ventriculi.The suggestion has frequently been made that environment may be one of the factors governing cancer mortality.It was, for example, mentioned in the rather extensive investigation made by Waler in 1931.He concludes that an hereditary disposition may be one of the contributory causes of cancer.He presents some evidence in support of this conclusion, but later points out that the majority of factors which indicate an hereditary disposition might just as well be interpreted in favour of the hypothesis that cancer is environmentally determined.Waler (1931) states that it may be assumed that the localization of cancer is hereditary, and he mentions cancer of the breast and uterus as examples, but, on the whole, he discusses cancer mortality without regard for the possibility that the situation might differ from one localization to another.Engelstad writes: "It is not correct, in the light of present knowledge, to speak of 'cancer families' as has been done previously.However, there may be some justification for the expressions 'breast cancer families' or 'stomach cancer families,' etc."Before discussing our material from different parts of Oslo to examine the possibility whether cancer ventriculi mortality in particular is environmentally determined, we shall consider some similar investigations which have been made by others.The problem itself is not new.The first Norwegian social statistician, Eilert Sundt, demonstrated in the middle of the last century that mortality varied from one part of the country to another.But in recent years such investigations have tended to become more concentrated on particular causes of death.Since the campaign against tuberculosis has made this a disease of only secondary significance, cancer has come more to the fore in this connection.Among the older Norwegian publications there is an extensive article by Thoner (1924).This investigation covers 120 cases and it is interesting because Thoner, in a carefully examined material, tries to answer the question as to the relation between cancer and living conditions, hygiene, age geography, geology and heredity.His conclusion is that there seem to be some cancer localities, especially in Hemsedal, and that this would seem to indicate the influence of environment.S. RENNAES AND E. W. 0OSTBERGIn England, Stocks (1950) has found that cancer ventriculi mortality is parti- cularly high in the northern part of the country.If the mortality for the entire country is put at 100, the figures for individual parts vary from 55 to 130. Stocks found further that mortality from cancer ventriculi was higher in the groups with a low standard of living than in those with a higher standard.Stockholm's Municipal Bureau of Statistics has recently (1953) published figures on total cancer mortality and mortality from individual forms of cancer for the years 1940/41 and 1945/46, with separate figures for (1) Stockholm, (2) Gothenburg and Malm0, (3) other cities and (4) country districts.Corresponding figures have been calculated for Denmark (1949/50) and Norway (1946/47).The results show that among the age-groups of interest in this respect, those over 55 years, the total cancer mortality in all three countries is decidedly higher in the capitals than in the medium-sized cities, and higher in the medium cities than in the small ones, and again higher in the small cities than in the country districts.The difference is most pronounced for men.This tendency toward increasing cancer mortality with increasing agglomeration is not really surprising.In these age-groups the total mortality is also higher in the cities than in the country and is particularly high in the largest cities.The on December 1, 1930, December 1, 1937, and October 1, 1948.This gives the figures in Table V.