Cancer mortality trend in central Italy. focus on a “low rate of land use” area from 1982 to 2011

The aim of the present study was to estimate total cancer mortality trends from 1982 to 2011in a “low rate of land use” province of the Latium region (Rieti, central Italy) characterized by a lowdegree of urbanization, a high prevalence of elderly, and a low number of births. Mortality data ofthe studied period, provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, were used for calculatingstandardized cancer mortality rates. Trends in mortality were analyzed using Joinpoint regressionanalysis. Results showed that total standardized cancer mortality rates decreased in the monitoredarea over the study period. A comparison with other provinces of the same region evidencedthat the studied province presented the lowest cancer mortality. The three systems/apparatusesaffected by cancer that mainly influenced cancer mortality in the monitored province were thetrachea-bronchus-lung, colorectal-anus, and stomach. These findings could be attributed to theimplement of preventive initiatives performed in the early 2000s, to healthier environmental scenario,and to lower levels of carcinogenic pollutants in air, water, and soil matrices. Thus, our results indicatethat the studied area could be considered a “healthy” benchmark for studies in oncological diseases.