Trends in registered incidence of oesophageal and stomach cancer in the Oxford region, 1974-88.

In the Oxford region 8,903 residents with oesophageal or gastric cancers were registered by the Oxford Cancer Registry between 1974 and 1988. For most of this time the Registry's practice was to code all adenocarcinomas of the oesophagus as adenocarcinomas of the cardia of stomach. There was a significant increase over time in the registered incidence of adenocarcinoma of the cardia, no appreciable change in the incidence of oesophageal cancers registered as such, and a decline in registered incidence of cancers of the stomach other than cardia.