Article of the month: Prostate cancer mortality rates in Peru and its geographical regions

Every month, the Editor-in-Chief selects an Article of the Month from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.

In addition to the article itself, there is an editorial written by a prominent member of the urological community. These are intended to provoke comment and discussion and we invite you to use the comment tools at the bottom of each post to join the conversation.

If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one.

Prostate cancer mortality rates in Peru and its geographical regions

Junior Smith Torres-Roman*^†, Eloy F. Ruiz^‡, Jose Fabian Martinez-Herrera^§, Sonia Faria Mendes Braga^¶, Luis Taxa^**, Jorge Saldaña-Gallo*, Mariela R. Pow-Sang^††, Julio M. Pow-Sang^‡‡ and Carlo La Vecchia^§§

*Clinica de Urologia Avanzada UROZEN, Lima, ^†Facultad de Medicina Humana, Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga, Ica, ^‡CONEVID, Unidad de Conocimiento y Evidencia, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru, ^§Cancer Center, Medical Center American British Cowdray, Mexico City, Mexico, ^¶Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, **Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, ^††Department of Urology, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, Lima, Peru, ^‡‡Department of Genitourinary Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, USA, and ^§§Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Universitá degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

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Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the mortality rates for prostate cancer according to geographical areas in Peru between 2005 and 2014.

Materials and Methods

Information was extracted from the Deceased Registry of the Peruvian Ministry of Health. We analysed age‐standardised mortality rates (world population) per 100 000 men. Spatial autocorrelation was determined according to the Moran Index. In addition, we used Cluster Map to explore relations between regions.

Fig. 1. Peru geographical zones by provinces. The asterisk denotes the province of Callao. Source: National Statistics Institute

Results

Mortality rates increased from 20.9 (2005–2009) to 24.1 (2010–2014) per 100 000 men, an increase of 15.2%. According to regions, during the period 2010–2014, the coast had the highest mortality rate (28.9 per 100 000), whilst the rainforest had the lowest (7.43 per 100 000). In addition, there was an increase in mortality in the coast and a decline in the rainforest over the period 2005–2014. The provinces with the highest mortality were Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Callao, Lima, Ica, and Arequipa. Moreover, these provinces (except Arequipa) showed increasing trends during the years under study. The provinces with the lowest observed prostate cancer mortality rates were Loreto, Ucayali, and Madre de Dios. This study showed positive spatial autocorrelation (Moran’s I: 0.30, P= 0.01).

Conclusion

Mortality rates from prostate cancer in Peru continue to increase. These rates are higher in the coastal region compared to those in the highlands or rainforest.