Davis D L, Hoel D G
National Research Council, Washington, DC 20418.
Int J Health Serv. 1992;22(3):447-53. doi: 10.2190/HERD-RYPH-P6LG-0KC1.
Cancer continues to increase throughout the industrial world. Aging of the population, smoking habits, and improvements in diagnosis do not account completely for these patterns. About 5 percent of cancers occur in persons under age 45, while 65 percent of all cancers occur in persons over age 65. For this older age group, many of their most common tumors, in addition to those linked with smoking, are not curable and appear to be increasing in incidence as well as mortality in a number of industrial countries. Evaluating cancer causes by looking at an age-adjusted rate obscures important differences that are occurring at different age groups. In order to reduce the cancer burden further, it is important to look for bona fide explanations of recent shifts in cancer patterns, especially those not related to cigarette smoking or other habits.
在整个工业化世界，癌症发病率持续上升。人口老龄化、吸烟习惯以及诊断技术的改进并不能完全解释这些趋势。约5%的癌症发生在45岁以下人群，而65%的癌症发生在65岁以上人群。对于这个老年群体，除了与吸烟相关的肿瘤外，他们许多最常见的肿瘤无法治愈，并且在一些工业化国家，其发病率和死亡率似乎都在上升。通过查看年龄调整率来评估癌症病因会掩盖不同年龄组之间正在出现的重要差异。为了进一步减轻癌症负担，寻找癌症模式近期变化的真正原因很重要，尤其是那些与吸烟或其他习惯无关的原因。
