CANCER IN POLAND

As in other European countries, cancer is the second most frequent cau se of death in Poland. Estimates say that some 100,000 Poles will have developed various cancers every year by the end of the 1980s. The num ber of cancer-related deaths reached 71,509 by 1989. The constantly gr owing number of new cases and deaths from cancer is one of the most ch aracteristic features of malignant neoplasms in Poland. The recent dec ades have seen major changes in the structure of cancer in Poland. Thi s is true for both sexes. By the end of the 1980s, the predominating n eoplastic disease in men was cancer of the lung. It was the cause of 3 4.3% of cancer-related deaths in 1989. In women, malignant neoplasms o f the breast, large bowel, and stomach represent about 33% of all canc er localizations. Geographic distribution of mortality ascribed to can cer shows an east-west pattern. This is true particularly for such can cer sites as the large bowel, gall bladder, pancreas, uterine cervix, urinary bladder, breast, ovary; it seems to have a clear connection wi th the geographic pattern of urbanization in Poland.