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

Objective: To describe the behavior of cancer incidence and mortality during 2008-2012, in the Barranquilla District. Methods: Incident cancer cases were collected, analyzed and processed by the Barranquilla Cancer Population Registry during the study period. The population structure was obtained from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) and the mortality from the Cancer Information System in Colombia. The total and specific crude and specific incidence rates and mortality by age and sex were estimated, as well as by-age standardized incidence rates. Results: Were identified 8,182 cases of cancer, excluding nonmelanoma skin (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 in main types of tumors (breast and prostate) with respect to the country and other population registries, provided data are key to showing a representative behavior of the Colombian Caribbean.