RESUMEN
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the time trends of cancer mortality among residents in Kaifeng county, Henan province.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Data on cancer mortality from the vital registration system in Kaifeng county from 1988 to 2005 was analyzed. A total of 9543 death records (5974 males and 3567 females) due to malignant tumors were studied. A two-year-period age-specified standardized mortality rates were directly adjusted by the world standard population, and the annual percentage change (APC) of mortality were estimated by a linear logarithm regression.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The crude cancer death rate for male was 95.09/100,000 and its age-standardized death rate was 117.41/100,000. While, the crude cancer death rate for female was 59.13/100,000 and the age-standardized death rate was 57.15/100,000. There was a significant growth tread for lung cancer (APC: 6.54%), liver cancer (5.07%) in males and breast cancer (7.04%) in females in the groups aged over 18. On the contrary, the decreasing treads for esophageal cancer in both of sexes (-7.09%, -13.53%) were also observed in this study. Meanwhile, there was no other significant changes in the trend, either in the tumor sites or mortality, was observed.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>In the past two decades, there has been a significant increasing trend for cancer mortality in Kaifeng county, of Henan Province. Hence, it is necessary to enhance epidemiological survey to identify risk factors at the earlier stages.</p>