[Incidence and prevalence of digestive system tumors: data from Italian tumor registries]

In incidence data from 10 cancer registries in Italy, cancers of digestive organs make up 20-25% of all cancers. In incidence of oral cavity, pharynx, oesophagus and colorectal cancer is higher in the North. The highest incidence rates for stomach cancer (among the highest in Europe) are in Centre-North. Liver cancer, on the contrary, is one of few cancers with the highest frequency in the South. The first observed prevalence data measured from Italian cancer registries refer to patients with colorectal cancer recorded in Varese province in 1976-87 period and followed up to 1988. Including those cases with less than 12 years from diagnosis, they were about 200 per 100,000: more than 60% aged between 60 and 80 years.