Time trends in mortality from malignant tumors and lung cancer during the period 1971–2000 and the risk of death in the middle-aged Kaunas men

The aims of this study were: 1. To examine the prevalence of risk factors and the risk of mortality from malignant tumors and lung cancer in 45–59-year-old Kaunas men; 2. To assess time trends during the period 1971–2000 in mortality from malignant tumors and lung cancer in Kaunas men aged 25–64 years. The random samples of Kaunas men aged 45–59 years from the Kaunas Rotterdam Intervention Study (1972–1974) and Study of Multifactorial Prevention of IHD (1977–1980) surveys (n=6446) were examined using the standard epidemiological methods. The participants of the two surveys were followed-up, in terms of the end points reached, from the beginning of each study until January 1, 2001. A multivariate Cox model was used for the analysis. The risk of death from malignant tumors and lung cancer among screened men was directly related to age and smoking habits and inversely related to education, total cholesterol, and body mass index levels. The mortality from malignant tumors and lung cancer among Kaunas men aged 25–64 years has not changed over the period 1971–2000. The mortality from all malignant tumors statistically significantly decreased from 1991 to 2000