[Gastric carcinoma in Cantabria: I. Incidence and distribution]

We have proceeded to study the rate of incidence and distribution in Cantabria of six hundred and thirty two patients suffering from gastric carcinoma in a period of time ranging from 1970 to 1981. The rate of incidence being observed among this population amounts to 14.54, cases per one hundred thousand inhabitants and year between 1976-1981. This rate increases with age in women more than in men. We have also been able to see how those cases where the carcinoma has appeared at an early age, under thirty, concern females exclusively. Males have been affected by this pathology more than females in a proportion of 1.38:1. We have verified there exists a special geographical distribution of this kind of tumour in our region, being Reinosa the judicial district presenting the highest rate of incidence.