Trends in cancer mortality: US white males and females, 1968-83.

From 1968 to 1983, age-specific cancer mortality for all cancers fell by 2.1% annually for men and women aged 35-44 and rose by 1.1% annually for men and 0.3% for women aged 75-84. In the 75-84 age group brain cancer mortality rose by 8% annually and multiple myeloma by 2.75%. Lung cancer mortality rose in men and women aged 45-84 (by 8.2% annually in 65-74 year-old women) but fell by over 3% annually in men aged 35-44. Stomach cancer declined by 4% annually in 75-84 year-olds and about 3% annually in 55-74 year-olds. These trends do not support the hypothesis that recent increases in specific cancers in the elderly chiefly reflect improved diagnosis of cases that would formerly have been misrepresented or miscoded.