Table 1

Observed numbers of female breast cancer deaths and mortality rates per 100 000 PY by period and municipality characteristics. The total numbers before 1994 include the correction factors

	Total no. of breast cancer deaths	%	Yearly population (×1000)	Crude rate	ASR	P value for ASR homogeneity
Period						p<0.01
1969–1972	4177	16	3180	32.8	32.0
1979–1982	4953	19	3251	38.1	32.5
1989–1992	5968	23	3483	42.8	32.6
1999–2002	5261	20	3720	35.4	25.4
2009–2012	5574	21	3993	34.9	22.3
Language						p=0.56
German	18 613	72	12 622	36.9	28.5
French	5915	23	4159	35.6	27.7
Italian/Roman	1405	5	847	41.5	28.9
Urbanisation level						p=0.08
Rural	6172	24	4491	34.4	26.9
Urban	19 761	76	13 137	37.6	28.8
Years of population-based screening*						p=0.53
No programme	4246	76	2942	36.1	22.6
1–4 years	169	3	115	36.9	23.4
5+ years	1159	21	936	31.0	21.2
Socioeconomic index quartiles						p=0.24
Q1 (lowest)	1999	8	1478	33.8	26.4
Q2	4313	17	3033	35.6	28.1
Q3	5864	23	4199	34.9	27.7
Q4 (highest)	13 757	53	8919	38.6	29.0

↵*Only for the period 2009–2012, length of screening refers to the year 2010.
ASR, Age Standardised mortality Rate; PY, Person Years.