Cancer in the Antofagasta region of Chile, with special reference to cancer of the urinary bladder and to lung cancer

Abstract

We present the oncological profile of Antofagasta Region, within a general regional approach to the state of health of the population. Through the comparison of regional mortality for the different cancer localizations with mortality in the country and in other regions, we show a persistent excess of bladder and lung cancer in men and women; an excess in kidney and liver cancer in men, and an excess of pancreatic cancer in women. The role of age structure is discarded, at least as far as bladder and lung cancer are concerned. The characteristics of these cancers in Chile and other countries are discussed: mortality, incidence, trends, relationships with gender, and to other possible factors. The previous national investigations related to the presence and the role of arsenic in the air, in drinking water, in food and in occupational processes in the region are cited. Gender associations suggest that: bladder cancer is related to the general environment more than to occupation (the excess is similar for both sexes); lung cancer is related both with the general and the occupational (copper smelting) environment; kidney and liver cancer, with men-related circumstances but probably not with arsenic, in the case of hepatic cancer; and pancreatic cancer, possibly with the general environment. In both Antofagasta and neighboring regions there is less mortality than in the country as a whole from cancers of the digestive tract and of prostate and ovary. This spatial extension does not apply to the cancers found to be in excess in Antofagasta. We conclude that research, monitoring and multisector control must continue and be intensified regarding the types of cancer for which a regional excess has persisted over several decades.