Objective: To estimate the incidence and mortality rates for pancreatic cancer in China. Methods: Afterchecking and reviewing the cancer registry data in 2009 from 72 cancer registry centers, we divided cancerregistry areas into urban and rural areas. Incidence/mortality rates, age-specific incidence/mortality rates, agestandardizedincidence/mortality rates, proportions, and cumulative incidence/mortality rates for pancreaticcancer were calculated. Results: The total number of newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer cases and deaths in 2009were 6,220 and 5,650, respectively. The crude incidence rate in all cancer registry areas was 7.28/100,000 (males8.24, females 6.29). The age-standardized incidence rate by Chinese standard population (ASR) was 3.35/100,000,with ranking at 7th among all cancers. Pancreatic cancer incidence rate was 8.19/100,000 in urban areas whereasit was 5.41/100 000 in rural areas. Cancer mortality rate in all cancer registry areas was 6.61/100,000 (males7.45; females 5.75), with ranking at 6th among all cancers, and 7.42/100 000 in urban but 4.94/100000 in ruralareas. Conclusions: Pancreatic cancer incidence and mortality rates have shown a gradual increase in China.Owing to the difficulty of early diagnosis, identification of high-risk population and modification of risk factorsare important to reduce the burden of pancreatic cancer.
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