Cervical cancer: age at registration and age at death

Abstract

Summary.-Age-adjusted mortality from lung cancer rose rapidly in both males and females in Hong Kong from [1960][1961][1962][1963][1964][1965][1966][1967][1968][1969][1970][1971][1972]. The relative frequency of epidermoid carcinoma increased in male bronchial biopsies but not in lung biopsies, resections, or autopsies; there was a decline in small-cell anaplastic carcinoma. In both males and females the ratio of Kreyberg Group I (epidermoid and small-cell anaplastic) to Group II (adenocarcinoma and carcinoid) tumours did not increase, despite an 80% rise in mortality from lung cancer. Adenocarcinoma was the most common type in females, despite the high mortality from lung cancer. It is speculated that cigarette smoking might produce a different pattern of histological types among Hong Kong Chinese, or that additional aetiological factors may be operating there.

Age at death of patients with colorectal cancer and the effect of lead-time bias on survival in elective vs emergency surgery

“…A recent early intervention study [21] (abdominal aortic aneurysm screening) reported improvements in survival; however (as previously observed by another author [22]), the results revealed no difference in age at death between invited and control groups. The other example exists in a prescreening population in cervical cancer [23]; the authors of this manuscript from 1977 observed that the average age of death was similar regardless of stage and age at diagnosis. The implications of our findings are that in a population of high socio‐economic deprivation, early intervention and aggressive attempts at curative surgery do not appear to be justified if the aim is improvement in overall life expectancy.…”