Abstract

APARICIO LLANOS, Amada  and  MORERA SALAS, Melvin. Geographic patterns of incidence and avoidable mortality by breast cancer in Costa Rica. Rev. costarric. salud pública [online]. 2009, vol.18, n.1, pp.43-47. ISSN 1409-1429.

Objective: To identify the geographic patterns of avoidable mortality and incidence by breast neoplasms in Costa Rica. Material and methods: Data of deaths and new cases of breast cancer were taken from the "Centro Centroamericano de Población" and the Public Health System data. For the geographic analysis we used the geographical representation of the standardized mortality ratio and the areas with a mortality rate significantly higher than national average. Results: There is an increase in the incidence rates by breast cancer. This behavior is similar in early ages, the new cases increase from 10 to 80 per 100,000 women with ages between 45 and 54 years, in period 1990-2004. On the other hand, the avoidable deaths in the women of 45 to 54 years old were close to 20 deaths/100,000 women. There are geographic patterns of high mortality and incidence of breast cancer in the center of the country. Discussion: The results must motivate the implementation of health policies in terms of an increase in the prevention and early diagnosis of the breast cancer in those areas with high incidence and mortality rate by this disease.

Keywords : Breast Neoplasms; Mortality; Incidence.

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