RESEARCH ARTICLE


Differences Between Urban and Rural Areas of the Republic of Suriname in the Ethnic and Age Distribution of Cancer - A Retrospective Study from 1980 Through 2004



D.R.A. Mans*, 1, E. Rijkaard1, J. Dollart1, G. Belgrave1, S.S. Tjin A Joe1, R. Matadin1, A. Algu1, A.R.D. Hoeblal1, R. Kalloe1, Z. Nurmohamed1, R. Rampadarath1, R.N. Mohamedradja1, A. Tewarie1, S. Sewgobin1, B. Ramautar1, A. Jagesar1, R. Mohan1, S. Adhin1, R. Bansie1, M.A. Vrede2
1 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Anton de Kom University, Paramaribo, Suriname
2 Pathologic Anatomy Laboratory, Academic Hospital Paramaribo, Paramaribo, Suriname

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2008
Volume: 1
First Page: 30
Last Page: 35
Publisher Id: TOEPIJ-1-30
DOI: 10.2174/1874297100801010030

Article History:

Received Date: 02/04/2008
Revision Received Date: 15/05/2008
Acceptance Date: 23/05/2008
Electronic publication date: 23/06/2008
Collection year: 2008

© 2008 Chen et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Anton de Kom University, Paramaribo, Suriname; E-mail: d.mans@uvs.edu


Abstract

We investigated whether there were differences between the urban and rural areas of the Republic of Suriname with respect to the racial and age distribution of cancer between 1980 and 2004. Patient information was from the Pathologic Anatomy Laboratory, relevant population data from the General Bureau of Statistics. Urban and rural cancer incidence rates (means ± SDs per 100,000 per year) were calculated for cancer overall as well as for the most common malignancies, and were stratified for the largest ethnic groups, viz. Creole, Hindustani, and Javanese, and for age strata 0-19, 20-49, and 50+ years. Rates for cancer overall and for most leading malignancies were up to 2.5-fold higher in the urban areas than in the rural areas. Furthermore, rates for urban Creole were 1.5- to 5-fold higher than those for rural Creole as well as Hindustani and Javanese from either residence. Also, rates for urban individuals of 50+ years were approximately twice those for rural people of the same age group. These tendencies were most apparent for gastrointestinal, breast, hematological and prostate cancer. Our findings suggest that there were significant differences between the urban and rural areas of Suriname with respect to the ethnic and age distribution of cancer.