Comparison of time trends in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma mortality (1990-2006) between countries based on the WHO mortality database.

Mortality data, abstracted from the World Health Organization (WHO) database, are available for various countries. We used Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma mortality (ICD-10: C82–85, C96) in 11 countries during the period 1990–2006. These countries were Japan, China (Hong Kong) and the Republic of Korea (Asian countries); the United States of America (USA); Australia; the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom (UK), Italy, Spain, France and Germany (European countries). For the USA, Spain and France, data were available for 1990–2005; Australia and Italy for 1990–2003; the Russian Federation for 1999–2006; and the Republic of Korea for 1995–2006. The world population was used for age standardization. Age-standardized rates for Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma mortality (ICD-10: C82–85, C96) in the 11 selected countries between 1990 and 2006 are shown for males (Fig. 1) and for females (Fig. 2). Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma mortality rates were 1.5–2.0 times higher for males than for females. For males and females, similar trend in rates were observed over time between 1990 and 2006. The mortality rate in the Russian Federation was the lowest of the 11 countries studied but showed an increasing trend in recent years. In Asia, a remarkable increase or decrease in trend was not observed and mortality rates in Korea were the lowest of the three Asian countries including Japan, China (Hong Kong) and the Republic of Korea. Among the European countries excluding the Russian Federation, only the UK showed a decreasing trend beginning from about 1995. However, the UK showed the highest mortality rates, whereas Spain and Germany showed some of the lowest among the European countries. The highest mortality rates during the observation period were for the USA and Australia. The trend over time in these two countries was similar; rates rapidly decreased beginning from the latter half of the 1990s becoming similar to those of the European countries.