Cancer incidence in kibbutzim in Israel

The incidence of cancer among the Jewish members of 43 collective settlements (kibbutzim) in the Beisan and Jezreel Valleys is reviewed. These settlements, apart from their geographical distribution, may be taken as a representative sample of the kibbutzim throughout Israel. This review covers the period 1960-72, during which 415 malignant tumors were diagnosed in a population experiencing 253,232 person-years of risk. The incidence was compared with that of the Jewish population in Israel as a whole, and the result was used as an approximation of the country's urban/kibbutz ratio. Cancers of the lip, malignant melanomas and cancer of the female breast were more common in the kibbutz population. Malignancies of the respiratory tract were less common among males living on kibbutzim than in the total Jewish male population of Israel. These differences are probably related to social and environmental factors.