Comparison and ranking of cancer mortality rates in the various populations of the RSA in 1970.

Age-adjusted mortality rates (MRs) in all four population groups in the RSA (age range 25 - 74 years) for different types of cancer were compared and ranked. Lung and stomach cancer had the highest MRs in white, Indian and coloured males. In white males lung cancer ranked 1st (MR more than twice as high as that for stomach cancer), while in Indian and coloured males stomach cancer ranked 1st and lung cancer 2nd. The MR for lung cancer in coloured males was a little higher than that in white males. In black males oesophageal cancer ranked 1st and liver cancer 2nd. In white females breast cancer ranked 1st and lung cancer 2nd. In coloured females cancer of the cervix ranked 1st followed by cancer of the breast and of the stomach. In black females cancer of the oesophagus and of the liver ranked 2nd and 3rd after cancer of the cervix, and in Indian females the rank order was stomach cancer 1st, breast cancer 2nd, and cervical cancer 3rd. Cancers of the rectum and bladder were low in the rank order in both males and females of all four population groups. The main feature of age-specific MRs for the more common cancers was the fact that MRs for stomach cancer in both coloured males and females were relatively high in the younger age groups. Also, the MRs for cancer of the cervix in coloured and black females were not only higher at all ages (except in the highest age group in blacks) but were particularly high in the younger age groups compared with figures for the other populations.