Epidemiological features of choriocarcinoma

By means of hospital records and death certificates, 91 cases of choriocarcinoma were identified in the cities of Manila, Quezon, Pasay, and Caloocan in the Philippines during the 5 years 1970-74. The overall incidence was 17.4 per 100 000 live births. The other principal findings in this population-based study concerned maternal age, history of fetal wastage, and number of pregnancies. Very high incidence rates for choriocarcinoma were registered for mothers aged 40 years and over and there was a slightly higher than average risk for women under 20 years of age. Risk increased with the number of fetal losses. The effect of number of pregnancies was evident only for very old and very young mothers. A case-control study was also conducted on 28 patients with choriocarcinoma and on 187 age-matched controls; for all of these women, the disease had been diganosed (cases) or children had been born (controls) between 1970 and 1975. Compared with the control group, a higher proportion of the case group had a history of pulmonary tuberculosis and had previously used contraceptive pills. Because of the low and unequal levels of cooperation among patients and controls, these findings need further confirmation.