A study of the incidence of, and deaths from, cancer as reported to the Welfare Ministry of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, in 1979, is presented. The distribution of morbimortality showed an accentuated increase with age. In males the anatomic sites associated with higher mortality were (in decreasing order): trachea, bronchi and lungs, stomach, esophagus, prostate and leukemias. In incidence related to the same sites, however, skin cancer moved into second place and leukemias were out. In women, breast, stomach, the uterus, with locations specified and in-specified, trachea, bronchi and lungs, and uterus cervix were the first five sites with regard to mortality. Malign neoplasms of the breast showed the highest incidence, followed by malign neoplasm of skin, uterus cervix, other locations specified and un-specified of the uterus and, in the fifth place, the stomach. The geographical distribution showed greater morbimortality in the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 10th and 13th Health Districts, in regions of a greater degree of industrialization or of large rural properties, where cattleraising is extensively undertaken. After standardization, the malign neoplasms of esophagus and larynx showed high rates, higher, in the case of the esophagus, than the rates for other countries.
Cancer; Cancer; Mortality; Morbidity