Geographical Patterns of Cancer Mortality in Spain

The study of geographical variations in morbidity and mortality has often been regarded as an effective means of deriving etiological hypotheses and a basis for health planning and resource allocation (Brothertson 1978; Hutt and Burkitt 1986; Wall et al. 1985). In particular, interest in the study of the geographical distribution of cancer has increased greatly over the past few years. This is demonstrated by the production of an Atlas of Cancer in numerous countries (Blot and Fraumeni 1982; Gardner et al. 1983; Li and Shiang 1980). In Spain, in spite of a long tradition of compiling and publishing mortality statistics, there have been few studies on cancer mortality (Berrio 1984). On the other hand, existing cancer registers are providing reliable information about cancer incidence in some regions, but this information is mostly unknown among health professionals (Waterhouse et al. 1982). Due to all these facts, the Cancer Atlas of Spain represents a synthesis of the most relevant available information on geographical epidemiology of cancer in this country. It has three sections (Lopez-Abente et al. 1984).