Cancer survival in Africa, Asia, and Central America: a population-based study.

Background: Population-based cancer survival data, a key indicator for monitoring progress against cancer, are not widely available from countries in Africa, Asia, and Central America. The aim of this study is to describe and discuss cancer survival in these regions.

Methods: Survival analysis was done for 341 658 patients diagnosed with various cancers from 1990 to 2001 and followed up to 2003, from 25 population-based cancer registries in 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (The Gambia, Uganda), Central America (Costa Rica), and Asia (China, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey).

Geographic distribution of liver and stomach cancers in Thailand in relation to estimated dietary intake of nitrate, nitrite, and nitrosodimethylamine.

It is our working hypothesis that the high rate of the liver and gastric cancers in North and Northeast Thailand is associated with increased daily dietary intake of nitrate, nitrite, and nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Samples of fresh and preserved Thai foods were systematically collected and analyzed from 1988 to 1996 and from 1998 to 2005. Consumption frequencies of various food items were determined on the basis of a dietary questionnaire given to 467 adults (212 males and 255 females) from 1998 to 2005.

Cancer incidence trends in Thailand, 1989-2000.

Through 2004, five cancer registries in Thailand have collected data for more than ten years. Three-year cancer incidence in Thailand covering the years 1989-1997 has been regularly reported in three volumes of 'Cancer in Thailand. Since the data for the last decade of the 20th century have been collected, the trends in incidence of some cancer sites were analyzed.

Cancer incidence in Thailand, 1995-1997.

There are five population-based cancer registries in Thailand in different regions of the country. Four of them (Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Bangkok, and Songkhla) have been operating since 1988 and the other (Lampang) since the early 1990s. These registries have published regular 3-year cancer incidence reports since the first in 1993 for the period 1989-1991.

Childhood cancer in Thailand: 1995-1997.

The incidences of childhood cancers in Thailand between 1995 and 1997 were determined from cancer registrations collected at five locations around the kingdom and compared with similar analyses performed at cancer registries in Asia, Europe and the USA. The incidence in Thailand was found to be lower than in some Asian and Western countries. Between 1988-1994 and 1995-1997, the incidence of childhood cancer rose 32.