[The mortality of prostate cancer in Andalusia. Contributions to mass screening]

To describe the mortality of prostate cancer in Andalusia from 1975 to 2001.

Estimation of crude rates, age-adjusted rates, Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL) adjusted rates, risk of death and the changes produced in the adjusted rates.

Prostate cancer deaths rise from 407 to 767. Crude rates increased from 13.54 to 21.35 per 100,000 persons-years. However, the age-adjusted rates showed a steady trend over the study period, with an annual percent change of -0.21%, and the premature mortality indicators declined. The cumulative risk of death increased with age, and presented an exponential increase after the age of 50 years, in both the periods, 1975-1979 as 1997-2001, with highest values in the second one.

Prostate cancer mortality in Andalusia has increased in absolute values due to the ageing of the population. When adjusted for age, the mortality has remained stable, with a shift of deaths toward the more extreme age groups, as indicated by the decrease of premature deaths. The results of this study do not support the starting-up of mass screening programs.