From 1988 to 2005, lung cancer incidence had a annual
increase of 1.63%, partly due to the ageing population
(Fig. 2) (5).
Although the mortality and incidence of lung cancer in
urban areas or males is higher than in rural areas or females,
the differences between urban and rural areas, males and
females have been gradually getting smaller year-by-year.
The incidence rate ratio (IRR) between urban and rural areas
remarkably decreased from 2.07 to 1.14 while IRR for male
and female changed from 2.45 to 2.21 during 1989-2008
(6).
Etiology
Ranked as the most common cancer, and leading cause of
cancer death, lung cancer constitutes a more and more
serious health burden in China, following rapid economic
development that brought cultural and behavioural changes,
increasing high prevalence of smoking, ageing population
DISEASE-SPECIFIC CANCER CONTROL
CANCER CONTROL 2015 89
1973-1975 1990-1992 2004-2005
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Cancer mortality (1/100,000) Stomach cancer
Esophageal cancer
Liver cancer
Cervical cancer
Lung cancer
Leukemia
Colorectal cancer
Nasopharyngeal cancer
Female breast cancer
Bladder cancer
Figure 1: Temporal trends of cancer mortality rate for the top 10 cancers
Male crude incidence
Male ASR (W)
Female crude incidence
Female ASR (W)
1 9 8 8
1 9 8 9
1 9 9 0
1 9 9 1
1 9 9 2
1 9 9 3
1 9 9 4
1 9 9 5
1 9 9 6
1 9 9 7
1 9 9 8
1 9 9 9
2 0 0 0
2 0 0 1
2 0 0 2
2 0 0 3
2 0 0 4
2 0 0 5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Incidence (1/100,000)
Year
Figure 2: Tendency of lung cancer incidence in 10 registries from 1988-2008 in China (ASR(W): Age-standardized incidence (world))