DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CANCER AROUND THE BALTIC SEA

Baltic Sea countries-Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithu ania, Poland, the Russian Federation and Sweden-have expressed deep in terest in developing collaborative research projects chiefly in descri ptive epidemiology of cancer. In order to assess potentials for joint studies, an attempt was undertaken to characterize cancer registration , cancer incidence patterns, temporal trends in cancer mortality and r esearch productivity between these countries. Standards of cancer regi stration are highest in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden ). These countries and Germany are also doing more productive research , Great differences in incidence and in mortality trends around the Ba ltic Sea offer promising opportunities for epidemiologic studies. Scar city of well-trained professional epidemiologists and other resources in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and the Russian Federation is the main f actor limiting the planning of joint large-scale epidemiologic studies of cancer.