Comparative frequency of bone sarcomas among different racial groups

To analyse comparatively the relevant data from bone tumor registries in China, Japan, and the United States.

The data of 38,959 histologically confirmed primary bone tumors collected by the Chinese Bone Tumor Registry 1957-1988, 20,272 collected by the Japanese Bone Tumor Registry 1972-1990, and 11087 diagnosed and treated at Mayo Clinic, USA were used for comparative analysis by race, age, sex and skeletal distribution. For reliability, we used ratios of different tumors to osteosarcoma for frequency analysis. We also included some data from the SEER 1973-1987 as well as from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, USA.

The relative frequency of osteosarcoma (OS) is higher in China and Japan than in the United States. There were only limited number of OS patients aged over 50 years in Chinese and Japanese groups, which might be due to the lower incidence of OS subsequent to Paget's disease in Asians. More osteosarcoma occurred in the flat bones in the Americans than in the Chinese and Japanese. The relative frequency of chondrosarcoma (CS) was higher in the American group than in the Asian groups. The average age of CS patient was younger in the Chinese than in the Japanese and the Americans. The data confirmed the previous report that the incidence of Ewing sarcoma was higher in western people than in Asians. The data showed that the comparative frequency of chordoma is higher in the Americans than in the Asians and that the incidence of giant cell tumor of bone is higher in the Chinese and Japanese than in the Americans.

The findings from this analysis provide useful information for the epidemiologic study and the clinical diagnosis of bone tumors.