Geographical distribution of death due to cancer in Kerman province, Southeast Iran (2012-2016): A comparison of proportional mortality and age-adjusted mortality rate

Background: In Iran, cancer killed 30,000 people, annually. The epidemiology of cancer is gradually changing as a result of the demographic and epidemiological transition in Iran. This study aimed at presenting a geographical distribution of cancer mortality in Southeast area of Iran and to compare proportional mortality and age-adjusted mortality rates. Materials and Methods: This study is an cross-sectional study that was performed on mortality data recorded in the Center for Statistics Management of Health Ministry at Kerman and Rafsanjan Universities of Medical Sciences in 2012-2016. This information was used to determine the age-standardized mortality rate per 100,000 people and proportional mortality for each district in Kerman province. Results: In general, between 2012 and 2016, 38,207 deaths (32,812 cases in Kerman and 5395 in Rafsanjan) occurred in the areas covered by Kerman and Rafsanjan Universities of Medical Sciences, from which 4756 deaths by cancer occurred in the areas covered by medical universities of Kerman (3787 cases) and Rafsanjan (969 cases). Of this, 2841 cases (59.73%) were males (2235 cases in the area covered by Kerman and 606 cases in the area covered by Rafsanjan) and 1915 cases (40.26%) were females (1552 cases in Kerman and 363 in Rafsanjan). The proportional mortality for all cancers in Kerman and Rafsanjan universities were 11.54% and 18%, respectively. Crude and standardized mortality rates for all cancers in males in Kerman and Rafsanjan universities were 81.9 per 100,000 (crude mortality rate = 79.6) and 81.3 per 100,000 (crude mortality rate = 79.6), respectively, while for females, it was 57.3 per 100,000 (crude mortality rate = 56.9) and 51.6 per 100,000 people (crude mortality rate = 51), respectively. Conclusions: Our results presents a general picture of the mortality due to cancer in one of the widest provinces of the country with more than 1.5 million habitants. In spite of higher proportional mortality in Rafsanjan, the rate of death by cancer in Rafsanjan was lower than Kerman.

کلیدواژه ها:

Geographical distribution ، death ، cancer ، Southeast Iran