EPIDEMIOLOGY OF DIGESTIVE CANCERS IN ALGERIA

Digestive cancers constitute a major and global public health problem due to their frequency and severity. This is a multicenter descriptive epidemiological study from 2014 to 2018 on all cases of digestive cancers diagnosed in the East and South-East Algerian region. The gender distribution of digestive cancers shows that: In men colorectal cancer occupies the first place with a crude and standardized rate of 14.6 and 19.3 per 100000 inhabitants followed by stomach cancer with an average crude and standardized rate of 5.9 and 8.2 per 100000 respectively then comes the pancreatic cancer which represents 9.8% of all digestive cancers In women the same distribution however it is the cancer of the gallbladder and extrahepatic bile ducts that occupies the third place with a crude and standardized rate of 3.2 and 4.6 per 100 000 inhabitants. Cancers of the esophagus and small intestine are rare representing less than 3% of digestive cancers. Their frequency will continue to increase in this region if no preventive measures are taken.