[Mortality from breast cancer in the European Community (1970-1985)]. / Mortalidad por cáncer de mama en la comunidad Europea (1970-1985).

BACKGROUND: A comparative study of mortality by breast cancer in the different countries of the European Community was carried out. METHODS: Deaths by breast cancer in women over the age of 14 from 1970-1985 were considered. The data were collected from the Statistical Yearbook of the World Health Organization. Poisson log-lineal models were used to calculate the relative risk and evaluate the temporary tendency of each country. Lastly a different model was established for each age group (15-44, 45-64, > 65) to know their evolution over time in the different countries. RESULTS: A north-south pattern was observed in the mortality by this tumor. Considered altogether, the Mediterranean countries present a mortality defect of 45% with respect to the remaining countries. The global tendency is slightly upwards in all the countries. This increase is significantly greater in the Mediterranean countries (7% every 5 years). Analysis by age showed that this increase is produced in the group of women over the age of 44 years. CONCLUSIONS: The increase in death by breast cancer in the European countries continues to rise despite the existing detection programs and improvements in survival. The differences among the countries tend to decrease making the incidence of breast cancer in the north and south of Europe ever more similar.

[Temporal trends in nosocomial infections in a unit of pediatric cardiac surgery (1984-1988)]. / Evolución de las tendencias temporales de infección nosocomial en una unidad de cirugía cardíaca infantil (1984-1988).

We have evaluated the variations and the evolution of the temporal trends of cumulative incidence of hospital infections, their different localizations and causative organisms in a hospital ward and intensive care area from a pediatric cardiac surgery unit during the period 1984-1988. We also evaluated the effectiveness of our control and surveillance program by calculating from monthly records the cumulative incidence of monthly ad yearly rates of hospital infections and their localizations. The cumulative yearly incidence showed a decreasing trend (CI x 100 = 4.30-0.492 years) (SE, beta = 0.144; p less than 0.001), mainly owing to the reduction in urinary tract infections (CI x 100 = 6.93-1.426 years) (SE, beta = 0.452; p less than 0.001) and other infections (CI x 100 = 1.1-0.232 years) (SE, beta = 0.062; p less than 0.01). The most commonly isolated pathogens were E. coli, Pseudomonas sp and K. pneumoniae. The patients from that unit had a low risk of hospital infection during the 1984-1988 period, and this risk decreased concomitantly with the development of the program.