Epidemiologic aspects of endometrial cancer in Thrace, Greece.

To describe the epidemiologic characteristics of endometrial cancer in relation with certain risk factors affecting the two major ethnic groups (Christian Orthodox and Muslims) in the area of Thrace, Greece. We performed a cross-sectional study of 166 consecutive patients, aged between 29 and 87 years, with documented endometrial cancer who were referred to our clinic for treatment from January 1986 to June 1998. Epidemiologic characteristics of the patients were abstracted from medical charts. To evaluate our results we used the direct standardization method (1995 Eur. Population) and chi2 test. The endometrial cancer incidence for the two study populations (Christian Orthodox and Muslims) was 16.96 and 3.16/100,000, respectively. We observed statistically significant differences in most epidemiologic characteristics between the two major ethnic groups in Thrace (Christian Orthodox and Muslims) regarding endometrial cancer. Our results confirm the increasing trend of endometrial cancer incidence as established in previous investigations.