[Mortality rate in lung cancer decreasing in men and increasing in women].

OBJECTIVE

To determine the trend in lung cancer mortality rates among men and women in the Netherlands during the period 1951 to 1992.

DESIGN

Descriptive research.

METHOD

In a previous paper the lung cancer mortality rates of men and women during the period 1951 to 1982 were analysed using the Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) population data and the CBS mortality data. The mortality rates were directly standardized for age using as a standard the Dutch sum population of 1951 to 1982. The current study describes the lung cancer mortality for men and women until 1992 using exactly the same methods.

RESULTS

The direct standardized mortality rates for men had decreased since 1987. For women, on the contrary, these rates had increased further. The age-specific mortality rates for men have decreased since the calendar period 1983-1987 and since the birth cohort 1916-1920. The age-specific mortality rates for women have increased until the latest calendar period 1988-1992 and until the latest birth cohort 1931-1935.

CONCLUSIONS

Lung cancer mortality in men has peaked, in women it is still rising.