INCIDENCE AND MORTALITY FROM STOMACH CANCER IN JAPAN, SLOVENIA AND THE USA

The mortality and incidence from stomach cancer were compared in Japan (a country with a high incidence where there was full application of mass screening during this pe-riod) and 2 countries with no screening policy: the USA (with a very low incidence) and Slovenia (with an intermediate rate). The registered cases of stomach cancer were from the Osaka Cancer Registry, the Slovenian National Cancer Reg-istry and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries in the USA. In the period 1975–95, the age-adjusted incidence rate (/100,000) of stomach cancer declined in the 3 countries, as follows: Japan, from 76.0 to 53.0 in men and 38.4 to 21.3 in women; Slovenia, from 40.2 to 24.1 in men and 16.6 to 10.8 in women; and the USA, from 9.5 to 6.9 in men and 4.3 to 2.9 in women. During the same period, the age-adjusted mortality rate declined, as follows