Correlations of international cancer death rates.An epidemiological exercise

Abstract

The relationships of 12 pairs of international cancer death rates have been examined with scatter diagrams and the magnitude of the association has been evaluated with rank correlation coefficients. An epidemiological interpretation has been attempted in spite of some obvious methodological limitations since these data may serve as a useful tool to substantiate existing epidemiological theory and provide etiological clues. Several significant and interesting relationships which have been found are discussed. The implications of a correlation also are discussed.