Esophageal cancer incidence and mortality in China, 2010

The National Central Cancer Registry of China (NCCR) is responsible for cancer surveillance. Local cancer registries in each province submit data for annual publication.. The incidence and mortality of esophageal cancer in China in 2010 by age, gender, and area is reported in this article.

There were data from 145 out of 219 qualified cancer registries. Esophageal cancer cases and deaths (ICD 10 code as C15) were stratified by location, gender, age, and cancer site. The 2000 Chinese census and Segi's population were used for age-standardized incidence/mortality rates. The rank in all cancer types and cumulative rate were also calculated.

It was estimated that 287 632 new cases were diagnosed and 208 473 patients died from esophageal cancer in 2010 in China. Esophageal cancer incidence ranked fifth of all cancer types with a rate of 21.88/100 000. Age-standardized rates by Chinese population (CASR) and World population (WASR) for incidence and mortality were 16.71/100 000 and 16.97/100 000, respectively. The mortality of esophageal cancer ranked fourth in all cancer types with a rate of 15.85/100 000. The CASR and WASR for mortality were 11.95/100 000 and 12.02/100 000, respectively. For both incidence and mortality, the rates of esophageal cancer were much higher in men than that in women, in rural areas than in urban areas, and peaked at age 80-84.

Esophageal cancer is still a major cancer type in rural areas of China. Effective prevention and control should be emphasized, including health education, chemoprevention, and early detection in high-risk groups.