DIFFERENTIAL CANCER MORBIDITY TOWARDS YEAR-2000 IN A POPULATION DISEASE OUTLOOK ACROSS EUROPE .1. THE FEMALE GENDER

Modem health system research emphasises the transition from mortality statistics, via morbidity and risk factors observations to comparative site explorations in defined al ens. The health of women fi om the pe rspective of their gender has become a priority in medical research ov er the last decade. Studies of morbidity have been called for as neces sary intermediary stage for hypothesis generation, and the formulation and inception of epidemiological projects which ale recognized as ess ential for attaining knowledge on rite factors and circumstances that deter-mine diseases and wellbeing in the general population. This appl ies especially to cancel; where the importance of seeing disease, from a ecological, cultural as well as gender context is evident. We made a comparative analysis of the hospitalization for somatic diseases dur ing 1986-1987 at the Heraklion University Hospital on Crete, and the c ommensurable Linkoping University Hospital in the country of Ostergotl and, Sweden. They are representative of their complementary Europian s ituations and comprise the total hospital admissions in there regions. Large differences were found, notably regarding both cardiovascular d iseases and cancer; with lower morbidity in the more 'arcadian' rural circumstances. The results provide unique data on traits and patterns intermediate to the pioneering observations of the Seven Countries sur vey on the rapidly changing European scene. In the field of cancel the data are effectively unmatched both as raw data and as a platform for further investigation, which we are presently pursuing under the embl em of 'Ariadne's thread'. From a salutogenetic point of view the elder ly rural women on CI-ere, and from a pathogenetic point of view the el derly urban women in Linkoping warrant particular attention.