Sixty-one years of pancreatic cancer in Denmark from 1943 to 2003: a nationwide study.

OBJECTIVES

We report the incidence rates of pancreatic cancer in Denmark during 61 years of data registration, from 1943 to 2003.

METHODS

On the basis of reports in the nationwide, population-based Danish Cancer Registry, we calculated age-standardized, period-specific incidence rates of pancreatic cancer.

RESULTS

A total of 32,654 incident cases of pancreatic cancer were evaluated (male-female ratio, 1.4). The age-standardized incidence rate of pancreatic cancer increased steadily in the beginning of the study period from 3.75/100,000 person-years in 1943 to 1947 to the maximum of 9.96/100,000 person-years in 1968 to 1972 among men and from 2.95 in 1943 to 1947 to the maximum of 7.04 in 1978 to 1982 among women. The incidence rates declined between 1968 to 1972 and 1988 to 1992 for men and between 1978 to 1982 and 2003 for women. Most tumors were located in the exocrine pancreas, and most were adenocarcinomas. More than 40% were located in the head of the pancreas; 14% were localized, 21% were regionally spread, and 36% were metastatic at the time of diagnosis. During the period 1978 to 2003, the percentages of histologically or cytologically verified adenocarcinomas remained relatively steady, approximately 30%.

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence rate of pancreatic cancer increased at the beginning of the 61 years of registration and declined slightly thereafter.