This project conducts descriptive studies to identify leads for further research and to test hypotheses regarding cancer etiology. Major efforts this year included an extensive analysis of recent cancer incidence and mortality trends by sex, age, and form of cancer, revealing that increases were driven largely by increases in prostate cancer among men and breast and lung cancer among women. Investigation of graphical presentations of rates revealed that figures should be designed according to the research question being addressed; in particular, use of the semilogarithmic scale when depicting temporal trends permits comparison of rates of change. Prostate cancer mortality patterns were assessed by cohort year of birth and geographically. Analysis of seasonal patterns in melanoma diagnosis documented a summertime peak. Ovarian cancer was shown to occur equally on the right and left side, in contrast to an expected excess on the right side due to reports of increased frequency of right-sided ovulation. The descriptive epidemiologies of several cancers, including the six most common cancers among women, the leukemias, multiple myeloma, and testicular germ cell cancer, were presented. Current work is focusing on urban/rural differences, lung cancer by histologic type, breast cancer laterality, ovarian cancer trends, kidney cancer, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Techniques for mapping using the personal computer are being further refined in preparation for production of a U.S. atlas of cancer mortality during 1970-92 among whites and blacks.
