ABSTRACT
Between the 1950s and the early 1990s, there was a general tendency towards rising cancer mortality, and towards leveling of differences in certified cancer mortality in the elderly population in various areas of the world.1,2 These trends were interpreted by some authors as indicators of an ongoing generalized cancer epidemic.3,4 However, there were substantial limitations and uncertainties in the reliability and validity of cancer death certification and their trends in the elderly, and changes in certified mortality for several sites may well reflect improved ascertainment, increased use of screening and diagnostic techniques in the elderly, and, in greater generality, changes in medical practice. Still, there was no widespread and generalized rise in cancer mortality in the elderly, with the major exception of lung and other tobacco-related neoplasms.
