Cancer of the testis (ICD-9 186)

The incidence was highest in Denmark (85/10⁶), Norway and the former GDR, with very high local rates found in Norway. The rate in most former Soviet countries was 10-15/10⁶, and also in Finland as low as 21/10⁶. The mortality showed quite a different pattern with the lowest rates in the Nordic countries except Denmark; however the spatial distribution was extremely heterogeneous due to the rarity of testicular cancer deaths. The mortality/incidence ratio varied from 0.1 in the Nordic countries except Finland to 0.8 in Lithuania and Russia.

The incidence in all countries was highest in ages around 30 years, and both the incidence rate and the differences between countries diminished towards the older ages. In contrast to all other sites presented in this Atlas, the mean age at diagnosis for testicular cancer in eastern countries was higher than in the western countries, the difference being up to 10 years. The uneven availability of platin-based treatments probably explains part of the huge geographical variation in mortality/incidence ratios.

There are no good hypotheses why the incidence rate varies greatly both internationally and nationally.