[Cancer survival in a local health district in Piemonte (Italy): follow up to 2007].

The objectives of this study were to compare, in a standardized manner, survival of cancer patients residing in this area and to further verify the quality of baseline incidence and mortality data. The survival analysis presented here refers to cases of primary malignant tumors diagnosed for the first time from 2002 to 2004 and followed until 31 December 2007. Women were found to have lower survival rates for gastric, laryngeal and lung cancer with respect to men while good survival rates were found for cancers for which organized screening programs are available. Overall, results show that women in this health district have substantially lower survival than men, indicating that major efforts in terms of primary prevention and awareness should be geared at this population.