Mortality trends for stomach cancer in England and Wales

Despite a decline in mortality rates since about 1931 stomach cancer remains a major cause of death in England and Wales. National death rates from 1916 to 1979 are presented by sex, age and 2 broad social-class groups covering manual and non-manual occupations. In both sexes the decline in rates has been most rapid in the young and has slowed progressively with advancing age. The ratio of male/female rates is currently 1.3 at ages 25-34, increases to a peak of 2.7 at ages 55-64 and then declines again but the pattern was different before 1931. Among both men and married women, rates are consistently higher in manual than in non-manual classes, but the difference is greater among men. Rates for men in non-manual occupations, and for both classes of married women, declined markedly between 1931 and 1951, but for male manual workers the decline was relatively slight until after 1951.