Cancer incidence in North Cyprus (NC), deemed an interesting epidemiological case due to possiblecontrasting prevailing factors in relation to South and North Europe (SE and NE), was evaluated for the period1990-2004. Age standardized rates (ASRs) and average age of incidence (AAI) values were determined for 12different cancers, separately for males and females. Annual trends were analyzed using linear regression slopes.Absolute values were compared by two-tailed t-tests. The order of prevalence for incidences of male (M) cancerswere: lung, skin, colorectal, prostate, brain, bladder, liver and stomach. Similarly, for females (F) they were:breast, gynaecological, skin, colorectal, lung, liver, brain, stomach and bladder. The following cancer cases weremore common than in SE and NE: lung (M) and skin (both genders). Breast (F), prostate, stomach (F), bladder(both sexes), cervix and corpus were less frequent; the rest were comparable. There was no difference in theannual trends of ASR or AAI for NC, compared with SE or NE. Thus cancer incidence in NC shares manyquantitative features with the rest of Europe. The worst cases could be improved by reducing smoking andprotection from the sun.
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