[Epidemiology of malignant neoplasms of the respiratory and upper digestive tract in Austria].

Between 1981 and 1985 the incidence of malignant tumours of the buccal cavity and mesopharynx, the larynx and hypopharynx and of the oesophagus in males was higher in the mainly rural Burgenland and Lower Austria than in Vienna. In lung tumours a slight urban-rural gradient tended to level out (Tables 1-4). In women, the cancer incidence on all locations showed an urban-rural gradient, steeper in the buccal cavity and mesopharynx, in the larynx and hypopharynx and in the oesophagus than in lung tumours (Tables 1-4). Cancer incidence in the nasal and paranasal cavities, middle ear, epipharynx, salivary glands and lips was low. Sex ratios, lips excepted, were lower than in other sites studied (Tab. 6). In Eastern Austria the mortality of malignant neoplasms of the mouth and pharynx in males increased steadily from 1960 to 1987. In laryngeal and oesophageal cancer no persistent trend was discernible. The lung cancer mortality decreased from the mid-seventies onwards (Figs. 1-2). In women, the lung cancer mortality increased continuously, and for some years now also that of the mouth and pharynx. Cancer of the oesophagus decreased, and laryngeal cancer mortality showed nearly constant rates (Figs. 5-6).