PCN184 - Cancer Mortality Trends In Brazil And Mexico

Abstract

Cancer is one the major causes of mortality worldwide, being responsible for 8.2 million deaths in 2012, of which more than half were notified in developing countries. Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) is the developing region with highest Human Development Index, representing 10% of world´s population. On the other hand, LAC still lacks health policy planning on cancer. Therefore, the aim of this study is to compare cancer-specific mortality in Mexico and Brazil, the largest countries in LAC. Data was extracted from mortality databases from Brazil and Mexico from 1998 until 2016. After extraction, data was standardized according to age and normalized according to LAC population. The age-standardized rates (ASR) were compared through linear regression modelling and temporal trends in cancer mortality were evaluated. We identified more than 3.0 and 1.3 million cancer-related deaths in Brazil and Mexico, respectively. In both countries, we observed a trend of cancer mortality increasing since 1998, with an increase/year of 0.17 and 0.08 per 10,000 habitants in Brazil and Mexico, respectively. Comparing both trends, cancer deaths in Brazil increased approximately 210% more than in Mexico in the same period (p<0.01) Cancer mortality in Brazil and Mexico is in continuous increasing trends since 1998, in the opposite direction of the global trends – with a discrete negative trend of 1%/year. In order to overcome the increasing cancer mortality in Brazil and Mexico, important health policy strategies may be taken into account, in both public and private healthcare settings.