Epidemiological Situation Concerning Lung Cancer in Wielkopolska in 1975–2002

Lung cancer is the main cause of cancer deaths around the world. At 12% of all cancer incidents, lung cancer is the most frequent single cause of death, of both males and females. In 2002 among male population in Po­land, lung cancer was the second, following heart failure, cause of death, ranging at 8% of deaths in general. It was third cause of death among females ranging at 2.3% in general. Considering cancer deaths in 2002 in Wielkopolska, lung cancer was most frequent cause of death among males (30%) and second frequent among females (10.4%). The last 25 years the number of deaths decreased among younger generation of males (first in the age group 20–44, later in the middle age group) and this phenomenon has dominated the general picture of cancer among males. However the increase of mortality rates in the older age group might be still observed. The constant increase of mortality has been observed among females, especially in the middle age group (45–64). It should be highlighted that the level of mortality has been equalled in both genders in the youngest age group (20–44), which means sud­denly growing risk among young population of women in Wielkopolska.