Malignant neoplasms of respiratory and intrathoracic organs (C30-C39) in the Osijek-Baranja County, Croatia.

The Institute of Public Health of the Osijek-Baranja County in collaborate with different county institutes provide updated information on the cancer occurrence and trends in the Osijek-Baranja County (OBC). The cancers were defined according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10), codes of malignant neoplasms of respiratory and intrathoracic organs (C30-C39). The aim of this article was to show the size of cancer problem with the C30-C39 cancer group in the Osijek-Baranja County (OBC). This article processes data on cancer incidence and mortality, appertaining age distribution, median age, cancer survival and length of stay in hospital collected in period 2001-2009. Out of all patients diagnosed with C30-C39 cancers, there were 18.2% of females and 81.8% of males. The total incidence rate in males (119.5/100,000) decreases while the total mortality rate (110.9/100,000) does not change in 9-year period. In the same period, the total mortality rate in females (15.7/100,000) increase moderately. The age-standardized incidence rate was six times higher in males than in females. The overall median age at diagnosis of C30-C39 cancers of both genders was 64.5 years, which exceeds the average age at diagnosis of cancer in general in the OBC by 4.8 years. Five-year relative survival rate was 14.8%, 19.7% for females and 13.7% for males. Male lung and bronchus cancer patients (C34) were 1 year younger at diagnosis of cancer than the respective female patients. An average C30-C39 cancer patient was hospitalized 2.0 times during the course of their illness while the median length of stay in hospital amounted to 16.1 days. The number of hospital admissions in both genders decreased over the 2001-2009 period. In both genders, the total length of stay in hospitals was slightly reduced. Females spent 0.4 days more in hospital than males. The overall incidence and mortality rate in the OBC were among the highest in Europe. However, these rates in females reached neither the Croatian nor the EU average. Other data are similar to those in Europe.