Sarcomas in north west England: II. Incidence

Incidence data on a population-based series of bone, soft tissue and visceral sarcomas from the North West of England are presented. The data are derived mainly from a total of 429 cases registered with the North Western Regional Cancer Registry and diagnosed during the period 1982-84, 76% of which were confirmed as sarcomas by a panel of five pathologists. Overall incidence of confirmed sarcomas per million person years was slightly higher in females (26.81) than in males (24.71) but there was no sex difference when 38 non-reviewed cases were taken into consideration (females 29.07, males (28.83). After exclusion of tumours of female genital tract, incidence of soft tissue tumours was very similar in both sexes (females 18.25, males 18.70). Bone tumours were almost twice as frequent in males (6.01) as in females (3.55).