A ten-year (2009–2018) database of cancer mortality rates in Italy

AbstractIn Italy, approximately 400.000 new cases of malignant tumors are
recorded every year. The average of annual deaths caused by tumors,
according to the Italian Cancer Registers, is about 3.5 deaths and about
2.5 per 1,000 men and women respectively, for a total of about 3 deaths
every 1,000 people. Long-term (at least a decade) and spatially detailed
data (up to the municipality scale) are neither easily accessible nor
fully available for public consultation by the citizens, scientists,
research groups, and associations. Therefore, here we present a ten-year
(2009–2018) database on cancer mortality rates (in the form of
Standardized Mortality Ratios, SMR) for 23 cancer macro-types in Italy on
municipal, provincial, and regional scales. We aim to make easily
accessible a comprehensive, ready-to-use, and openly accessible source of
data on the most updated status of cancer mortality in Italy for local and
national stakeholders, researchers, and policymakers and to provide
researchers with ready-to-use data to perform specific studies.