Non-Hodgkin lymphoma Time Trends in Brazil, 1980 - 2012

Objective

This paper aims to analyze the Non Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) mortality time trend in Brazil.

Methodology

It is an epidemiological temporal trend study with information on NHL deaths from 1980 to 2012 (obtained from the Mortality National System), standardized by age using the direct method. A Poisson (joinpoint) model was employed to estimate the Annual Percent Change (APC) of NHL mortality.

Results

In Brazil and the southeastern region, there was a statistically significant increasing trend in the mortality ratio by NHL only from 1989 to 1998 (APC=3.4%; p<0.05 and APC=3.0%; p<0.05, respectively), while in the middle west (APC=2.3%; p<0.05), north (APC=1.5%; p<0.05) and northeast regions (APC=3.1%; p<0.05), the increasing trend was constant throughout the whole study period. In the south region, there was no statistically significant trend in NHL mortality during the study period.

Conclusions

The increasing trends in NHL mortality observed were not homogeneous; therefore, future studies should be conducted to understand its risk factors.

Keywords:
Non Hodgkin Lymphoma; time series studies; mortality; epidemiology