Abstract
Background:
Ovarian cancer was one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women. This cancer is difficult to diagnose early since there is no public screening program for early identification, which results in low survival rates. This study aimed to investigate trends in ovarian cancer mortality from 1990 to 2018 in Montenegro, using regression techniques.
Objectives:
Data on ovarian cancer mortality in Montenegro from 1990 to 2018 were collected.
Materials and Methods:
Mortality rates were age-standardized to the World Standard Population to estimate overall and age-specific trends. To find the changes in the ovarian cancer mortality trend over time, joinpoint, linear, and Poisson regressions were used.
Results:
Resuming the period from 1990 to 2018, 418 women in Montenegro died from ovarian cancer. The average number of deaths per year was 14.4, and the average age-standardized rate was 3.0/100,000. Joinpoint regression identified consistently increasing ovarian mortality rates with an average annual percentage change (AAPC) of 1.9% (AAPC [95% confidence interval (CI)]: 1.9 [0.6–3.3]). Moreover, the number of cases increases by an average of 3.5% per year (AAPC [95% CI] =3.5 [2.2–4.7],
P
< 0.001). The highest rates were recorded in the age group of 75–84 years (16.4/100,000) and the age group of 65–74 years (14.3/100,000).
Conclusion:
The explanation for the rise in ovarian cancer mortality in Montenegro is unknown. However, this study emphasizes the significance of paying greater attention to ovarian cancer and undertaking additional research to discover the underlying causes of this unfavorable trend.