Reliability of recording uterine cancer in death certification in France and age-specific proportions of deaths from cervix and corpus uteri.

French uterine cancer recordings in death certificates include 60% of "uterine cancer, Not Otherwise Specified (NOS)"; this hampers the estimation of mortalities from cervix and corpus uteri cancers. The aims of this work were to study the reliability of uterine cancer recordings in death certificates using a case matching with cancer registries and estimate age-specific proportions of deaths from cervix and corpus uteri cancers among all uterine cancer deaths by a statistical approach that uses incidence and survival data. Deaths from uterine cancer between 1989 and 2001 were extracted from the French National database of causes of death and case-to-case matched to women diagnosed with uterine cancer between 1989 and 1997 in 8 cancer registries. Registry data were considered as "gold-standard". Among the 1825 matched deaths, cancer registries recorded 830 cervix and 995 corpus uteri cancers. In death certificates, 5% and 40% of "true" cervix cancers were respectively coded "corpus" and "uterus, NOS" and 5% and 59% of "true" corpus cancers respectively coded "cervix" and "uterus, NOS". Miscoding cervix cancers was more frequent at advanced ages at death and in deaths at home or in small urban areas. Miscoding corpus cancers was more frequent in deaths at home or in small urban areas. From the statistical method, the estimated proportion of deaths from cervix cancer among all uterine cancer deaths was higher than 95% in women aged 30-40 years old but declined to 35% in women older than 70 years. The study clarifies the reason for poor encoding of uterus cancer mortality and refines the estimation of mortalities from cervix and corpus uteri cancers allowing future studies on the efficacy of cervical cancer screening.

Is breast cancer incidence increasing among young women? An analysis of the trend in France for the period 1983-2002.

The purpose of the study was to describe the trend in the incidence of breast cancer in women under 40 in France for the period 1983-2002 and compare it with the trend observed in other age groups. Data from seven cancer registries were analysed. Annual percentage changes were estimated in different age groups using Poisson regression. During the period 1983-2002, breast cancer incidence in women under 40 increased regularly, with an estimated annual percentage change of 0.65 (95% CI: 0.03-1.26). In women aged over 40, the increase is more significant, particularly among women aged 50-74 (2.93% per year). The increase in breast cancer incidence in women under 40 was low and steady over the 20-year period considered. Even though young women did not experience such a major change in diagnostic practices as the development of screening among women aged 50-74, it is difficult to distinguish the effects of possible changes in risk factors and in diagnostic practices in the slight increase observed.

Increased incidence of thyroid carcinoma in france: a true epidemic or thyroid nodule management effects? Report from the French Thyroid Cancer Committee.

Thyroid cancer (TC) incidence, in France, has dramatically increased over the last two decades. In order to try and account for this observation, the French Department of Health requested the Public Health Agency to coordinate a multidisciplinary Thyroid Cancer Committee (TCC). The TCC analysed the temporal incidence trend in France, evaluated the contribution of changes in diagnostic practices of thyroid diseases to the observed increase of TC, and set up guidelines to improve the national surveillance system of TC. The increased incidence of TC is real (8.1% and 6.2% per year in women and in men, respectively), mainly due to papillary type with an epidemic of microcarcinomas (43% of operated cancers, period 1998-2001) associated to the extensiveness of thyroidectomies. Multicentric studies showed a significant increase, from 1980 to 2000, in ultrasonographic (3 to 84.8%) and cytological procedures (8 to 36% of patients with thyroid nodules) as well as a significant association between the increase in TC prevalence among operated patients (12.5 to 37%) and the spread of fine needle aspiration. Epidemiological evidence does not favour any link with the Chernobyl accident. The TCC recommended a national registry dedicated to thyroid cancer of the youths ( <18 years old). For adults, in addition with the strengthening of the French regional registries, a continuous registration of incident cases through the National Hospital Discharge Survey that covers all the territories is proposed. Such system, matched with pathological data derived from a national standardized collection, will provide a relevant model for epidemiological surveys of TC.