In Korea, leading causes of death have dramatically changed from infectious
diseases to chronic degenerative illnesses, including malignant neoplasms since
1960. However, little is known about the long-term trends of female malignancies in
Korea. This study was conducted to find epidemiological evidence of changes in mortality
and morbidity of uterine cervix, female breast, and ovarian cancer through a
long-term trends analysis with data representative of the Korean population.
Age-standardized mortality rates of three female malignancies were markedly increasing
throughout the observation period. Increment ratios in mortality were about two to
five during the period 1981-1990. As a proxy estimate of incidence, age-standardized
admission rates of female malignancies, as well as proportion index of admission due
to each cancer to total admissions, showed a similar increasing trend from 1981 to
1990 in Korea. These results are highly suggestive of the view that both the mortality
and morbidity for uterine cervix. female breast, and ovarian cancer must be increasing
during the ten-year period since 1981 in Korea. Of the female malignancies, it is most
likely that morbidity and mortality of uterine cervix cancer begin to decline after the
end of the 19805 in Korea. Particularly noteworthy was a shift of the prevalent age for
uterine cervix cancer to older women
