[Mortality caused by cancer in Andalusia: trends and geographic distribution]

To describe the evolution of mortality due to gastric cancer in Andalusia and the current geographic distribution of mortality.

Descriptive, population-based study.

Andalusia (Southern Spain) during the period from 1975 to 1999.

Residents of the region of Andalusia.

Crude rates adjusted for age (interval 35-64 years) of potential years of life lost (1-70 years), and cumulative rates (0-74 years), for mortality due to gastric cancer from 1975 to 1999. Linear regression coefficients were calculated from the model that best fit mortality rates standardized across the study period. Age-adjusted rates were calculated for the five-year period from 1995 to 1999 for primary health care districts.

A sustained decrease in mortality (standardized rate per 100000 inhabitants) due to gastric cancer was seen in women (15.9 to 5.8) and men (33.9 to 14.5). The Sierra Norte (Seville province), Huelva and Córdoba districts, together with the Guadix district (Granada province), had the highest age-adjusted rates for the period from 1995 to 1999. Mortality rates were higher in men than in women throughout the period analyzed; the male:female ratio was consistently greater than 2.

Mortality due to gastric cancer decreased notably in Andalusia during the last quarter of the twentieth century, but the current geographic distribution of mortality rates varies across the region. Mortality rates in some primary health care districts were threefold as high as in other districts where mortality was low. Further analytical studies are needed to clarify the possible causes of these marked local differences.