[Mortality from cancer of the breast and the female genitalia in Aragón, 1975-1984].

One out of four cancer deaths in women are due to breast cancer and female genital cancer. Mortality data are a basic information source to study disease characteristics in the population. A descriptive study on breast and female genital cancer mortality was carried out in Aragón covering the period 1975-84. Geographical differences and variations on mortality rates between the periods 1980-84 and 1975-79 have been studied. A mortality rate of 40.2 per 100,000 women per year has been observed for these tumours. Breast cancer accounted for 55% of these deaths. Reduction of mortality rate was seen for uterus non-specified between the periods 1980-84 and 1975-79, probably due to an improvement in quality of death certificates for uterus cancer. Higher mortality rates have been observed in the town of Zaragoza than in other parts of Aragón. This suggests the town of Zaragoza as priority in strategies of prevention and control programs.