Epidemiological Patterns of Cancer Incidence in Southern China: Based on 6 Population-based Cancer Registries

Background: The epidemiological patterns of cancer incidence have been investigated widely in westerncountries. Nevertheless, information is quite limited in Jiangxi province, southern China. Materials and
Methods:All data were reported by 6 population-based cancer registries in Jiangxi Province. The results were presentedas incidence rates of cases by site (ICD-10), sex, crude rate (CR), age-standardized rates (ASRs) and truncatedincidence rate (TR) per 100,000 person-years, using the direct method of standardization to the world population.
Results: 8,765 new cancer cases were registered in our study during the period 2009-2011. Diagnosis of cancerwas based on histopathology in 61.0%, clinical or radiology findings in 4.87% and death certificate only (DCO)in 3.0% of the cases. The median age at diagnosis was 62.0 years (mean, 61; standard deviation, 15). The ASRswere 170.8 per 100,000 for men and 111.2 for women. The ASRs for all invasive cancers from the urban areas(145.7 per 100,000) was higher than that of rural areas (137.1). Incidence rates for lung cancer were higher inrural (35.8) than in urban areas (27.0). Similarly, relatively high rates were observed for stomach cancer in rural(20.1) relative to urban areas (15.5).
Conclusions: Our results reveal that the most common cancers were breastand lung in women and lung and liver in men. Interestingly, this study suggested a higher incidence rates forlung and stomach cancer in rural males than in urban population, which may suggest other potential causes,such as over-consumption of smoked meats and high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection, respectively.Public education and the promotion of healthy lifestyles should be actively carried out.