MORTALITY FROM PANCREATIC CANCER IN BRAZIL BETWEEN 2009 AND 2019

Introduction: In Brazil, pancreatic cancer represents 2% of all types of cancer, being the eighth cause of death regarding other types of cancer. The worst prognosis of the disease has relationship with diagnosis at a locally advanced or metastatic stage of the disease. Still no diagnostic methods can accurately detect an early tumor in the general population. Therefore, pancreatic cancer reveals itself as a serious public health problem. Objective: The study aims to analyze mortality from pancreatic cancer in Brazil between 2009 and 2019. Methods: This is an ecological study based on information from the Hospital Information System (SIH/SUS) of the Department of the Unified Health System (DATASUS). The selected data consider the following variables: year of care, number of death, sex, age group and mortality rate (per 100.000 inhabitants). Results: There were 101.012 deaths from pancreatic cancer in Brazil between 2009 and 2019. The region with the highest percentage of deaths was the Southeast (50.63%) and the lowest was the North (3.58%). However, Southeast region had the highest mortality rate (5.92) and the North the lowest (3.02). During this period, deaths from pancreas cancer increased by 68.87%, with 2019 being the year with the highest number of death. The Midwest region had the greatest increase (93.38%), while the smallest increase occurred in the South region (60.42%). Regarding gender, 50.32% of deaths occurred in female patients, 49.66% in male patients, and in 0.1% of patients, gender was ignored. The highest percentage of deaths occurred in white people (62.69%), followed by brown (26.14%), black (6.05%), yellow (0.92%) and indigenous (0, 1%), 3.93% of patients had their color/race ignored. The most affected age group was 70-79 years old (27.90%) and the least affected was 0-19 years old (0.06%). The age groups 60-69 years (26.68%) and the ones over 80 years (21.25%) also had a significant number of deaths. Conclusion: The rise in deaths may be related to advances in diagnosis and increased life expectancy, since the incidence of cancer in general increases with age. The lowest percentage of deaths in the North region may be due to the lack of hospital beds and diagnostic equipment/material. Males are at greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer due to greater exposure to tobacco, but in the period studied, females had more deaths. The greatest involvement in the age group 70-79 years is in agreement with the world literature.