Background: The purpose of this study was to develop a single measure of cancer burden (SMCB), which canprioritize cancer sites by considering incidence and mortality. Materials and Methods: Incidence data from 1999to 2010 were obtained from the Korea Central Cancer Registry. Mortality data from 1999 to 2010 were obtainedfrom Statistics Korea. The SMCB was developed by adding incidence and mortality scores. The respective scoreswere given such that incidence and mortality were classified by ten ranges of equal intervals. Results: Accordingto the SMCB in 2010, stomach cancer ranked 1st in males with 20 points, and colorectal cancer was 2nd with 11points. Breast cancer and thyroid cancer were joint 1st with 11 points for females. The SMCB for females wasless than that for males. The burden of stomach cancer was 1st in males from 1999-2010. The incidences oflung cancer and liver cancer decreased, whereas thyroid cancer and colon cancer increased during the period.Breast cancer and thyroid cancer burden showed tendencies to increase in females. Comparison of SMCB withdisability-adjusted life years (DALY) and socioeconomic costs in 2005 showed that the top five cancer sites weresimilar, but there were differences in the size of the cancer burden. Conclusions: The SMCB indicated that theburdens of stomach cancer in males and thyroid and breast cancers in females were large. The single measureshowed an advantage, reflected as the equivalent dimensions of incidence and mortality, whereas DALY andeconomic costs showed tendencies to reflect premature death.
)