[The incidence pattern of certain cancers in the RSA]

The numbers of patients treated for seven types of carcinoma during 1977 at 10 hospitals in South Africa have been reviewed. The total number of patients admitted to the 10 hospitals in 1977 was 286 373. Slightly more than 1%, namely 3 409, of these patients suffered from carcinoma of the cervix, oesophagus, breast, lung, liver, stomach or colon. Carcinoma of the cervix was commonest among Black patients and carcinoma of the colon among Whites. The relative incidence of the different types of carcinoma among Whites was almost the opposite of the sequence among Blacks.