Cancer of the corpus uteri (ICD-9 182)

There was relatively little spatial variation in incidence or mortality rates of endometrial cancer. The incidence was highest in Denmark (153/10⁶) and lowest in Belarus (88/10⁶). The mortality rate in Saarland (13/10⁶) was less than 40% of that in other parts of Germany.

Mortality/incidence ratios ranged from 0.4 Lithuania to the 0.2 or lower in Saarland, Iceland, Sweden and Finland.

The differences in incidence are mainly attributable to the oldest age groups. The mortality rate in Belarus and in Baltic countries is higher than that in the other countries up to the age of 65, but in the oldest ages it is lower. The rate in Saarland in ages 50-70 was less than 50% of the rate in any other area.

Reproductive factors affect the risk of endometrial cancer in a way similar to breast cancer, but the association is supposed to be weaker. The spatial pattern is consistent with this theory: the maps of cancers of the breast and corpus uteri are very much alike, but the variation is smaller in endometrial cancer.

If the observation of essentially lower mortality from endometrial cancer in Saarland in comparison to other parts of the former FRG is not real, it indicates that the coding principles of the underlying cause of death vary between the German states.