Trends in incidence of testicular cancer and prostate cancer in Denmark

Abstract

This article presents a detailed analysis of the incidence trends of testicular cancer and prostate cancer, using information from the Danish Cancer Registry in the period 1943–1996. The rate of increase of testicular cancer was about 2.6% per year. The analyses indicated that incidence was more strongly dependent on the man's birth cohort than on the calendar period. The analysis confirmed the significantly reduced incidence of testicular cancer in the 1943 cohort and suggested a levelling off in the increase in testicular cancer incidence from cohorts born after around 1963. This may imply that the great part of the recent increase in incidence has been due to a rapid increase in incidence in successive birth cohorts born in the relatively short period from 1945 to 1960. The rate of increase of prostate cancer was about 1.6% per year. The analyses indicated a stronger dependency on period than on birth cohort. The cohort parameters had very low values in the three earliest cohorts (1858–1868) and the period parameters showed a low incidence in the most recent period. The epidemiological pattern of prostate cancer incidence seems dominated by changes in diagnosis and registration and does not permit inferences about changes in causal factors.

Survival of prostate cancer patients in central and northern Denmark, 1998–2009

“…A previous Danish study based on nationwide registry data from the period 1943–1996 found that the incidence of prostate cancer increased about 1.6% per year 20. It was concluded that the epidemiological pattern of prostate cancer incidence seemed to be dominated by changes in diagnosis and registration rather than changes in causal factors, which supports our speculation concerning the current results.…”

Histological evidence of testicular dysgenesis in contralateral biopsies from 218 patients with testicular germ cell cancer

“…Over the last few decades, a marked increase in the incidence of testicular cancer has been well documented in the cancer registries of many countries 1, 2. A particular feature of testicular cancer is that the vast majority of tumours originate from germ cells.…”

The descriptive epidemiology of congenital and acquired cryptorchidism in a UK infant cohort

“…Both conditions are related to and are known to be risk factors for the development of low sperm count and testicular cancer in adult life 5. Recent data from large, longitudinal population studies carried out in Denmark and Finland report the prevalence of cryptorchidism at birth of 8.2% and 2.2%, respectively 2.…”