Background: Breast and gynecologic cancers incidence and mortality rates differ between geographical regions. We aim to evaluate if disparities in incidence and mortality cancer rates among women in the Pan-American countries could be related to the country human development index (HDI). Methods: This ecological analysis includes 28 countries from the Pan-American region. Age-standardized incidence and mortality rates per 100.000, mortality/incidence ratios for breast , cervical cancer, ovarian cancer and corpus uteri cancer obtained from GLOBOCAN 2012. Data were log-transformed because of strong skewness. The information on HDI was gathered from the UNDP 2012 report. Pearson’s correlation test and simple linear regression were performed in Stata 12. Results: HDI was strongly and positively associated with breast and ovarian cancers incidence and mortality rates. HDI was negative associated with cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates and also with breast and cervical cancers ratio. HDI was not associated with corpus uteri cancer estimative. Linear regression coefficients (β) between HDI and each cancer log-rate are shown in the Table. Conclusions: HDI should be considered as an indicator explaining inequalities in incidence and mortality rates of breast, cervical and ovarian cancer in women between countries in the Pan-American region.

*Wald test.