Objectives: To assess epidemiological aspects of bladder cancer in Asturias, as a preliminary step before undertaking epidemiological and genetic research of the etiology and survival of bladder neoplasm.
Methods: cases from the Asturias Regional Cancer Registry, Spain were used to calculated annual incidence rates between 1982 and 1993 for Asturias and all its health areas. It has been Standardized incidence ratios with the indirect method for the Asturian areas and other Spanish regions were obtained our results are also compared with other european countries.
Results: The trend in bladder cancer in Asturias has been increasing significantly in the last twelve years (11.03 to 15.10 age standardized rate per 100,000). For the different health areas no differences have been identified, while there were not significant differences between our region and other Spanish regions. Standardized rates for Asturian men are in the highest group among European countries, while women rates are at an intermediate level.
Conclusions: Between 1982 and 1993, bladder cancer incidence has been increasing in Asturias. The different behaviour of incidence ratios between men and women and the similar epidemiological factors between Asturias and other parts of Spain point at the need for further epidemiological research to look at the different occupational factors existing in an industrial area like Asturias.