Measuring progress against cancer.

The trends in age-specific cancer incidence and mortality rates in Denmark were evaluated over the period 1951-1980. The total incidence of cancer increased in all age-groups in both sexes, i.e. the life-time risk for any person of getting a malignancy has been increasing. The mortality from cancer shows a different pattern, especially in the younger age-groups where cancer mortality has been decreasing. The decrease in incidence of gastric cancer, when measured in terms of incidence or mortality rates, has been an important source of success. Screening for precancerous lesions of the cervix has been responsible for a large decrease incidence among younger women. Had it not been for the large increase in the incidence of lung cancer, the total cancer mortality in both sexes would, in nearly all age-groups, have been lower in 1976-1980 than in 1951-1955.