SPACE-TIME ANALYSIS OF THE INCIDENCE OF C ANCER IN CERTAIN SITES OF QUEBEC - 1984-1986 AND 1989-1991

Basing our views on recent works of an Ontarian research group, we ana lyze the profiles of incidence of the main types of cancers observed i n the province of Quebec for the periods 1984-1386 and 1989-1991. Usin g the Quebec Tumors Registry, we have calculated standardized incidenc e rates according to sex for each of the 32 departments of community h ealth in the province. A geographical analysis of cancers was conducte d via two methods of spatial autocorrelation (SA). Many cancer sites ( i.e., breast, lung, stomach) show a positive SA (p<0.05), indicating a n aggregation of cases. Several aggregation schemes observed in Quebec resemble those observed in Ontario. In women, the highest incidence r ate increases are in leukemia and lung cancer; in men, prostate cancer and leukemia show the highest increase of rates (p<0.01). The consist ency of our observations with those of the Ontario group is discussed.