International Trends in Liver Cancer Incidence Rates

Background: Recently, reports have suggested that rates of liver cancer have increased during the last decades in developed countries; increasing hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma rates were reported. The aim of this study was to examine time trends in incidence and mortality rates of liver cancer for the period of 1998–2015 in Lithuania by sex, age, and histology. Methods: We examined the incidence of liver cancer from 1998 to 2015 using data from the Lithuanian Cancer Registry. Age-standardized incidence rates were calculated by sex, age, and histology. Trends were analyzed using the Joinpoint Regression Program to estimate the annual percent change. Results: A total of 3086 primary liver cancer cases were diagnosed, and 2923 patients died from liver cancer. The total number of liver cancer cases changed from 132 in 1998 to 239 in 2015. Liver cancer incidence rates changed during the study period from 5.02/100,000 in 1998 to 10.54/100,000 in 2015 in men and from 2.43/100,000 in 1998 to 6.25/100,000 in 2015 in women. Annual percentage changes (APCs) in the age-standardized rates over this period were 4.5% for incidence and 3.6% for mortality. Hepatocellular cancer incidence rates were stable from 1998 to 2005 (APC −5.9, p = 0.1) and later increased by 6.7% per year (p < 0.001). Intrahepatic ductal carcinoma incidence increased by 8.9% per year throughout the study period. The rise in incidence was observed in all age groups; however, in age groups < 50 and between 70 and 79 years, observed changes were not statistically significant. For mortality, the significant point of trend change was detected in 2001, where after stable mortality, rates started to increase by 2.4% per year. Conclusions: Primary liver cancer incidence and mortality increased in both sexes in Lithuania. The rise om incidence was observed in both sexes and main histology groups. The increasing incidence trend may be related to the prevalence of main risk factors (alcohol consumption, hepatitis B and C infections. and diabetes).

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Spatial epidemiologic analysis of the liver cancer and gallbladder cancer incidence and its determinants in South Korea

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-021-12184-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jieun Jang ◽

Dae-Sung Yoo ◽

Byung Chul Chun

Keyword(s):

Liver Cancer ◽

Hepatitis B ◽

Gallbladder Cancer ◽

Cancer Incidence ◽

Regional Variation ◽

Incidence Rates ◽

Spatial Clusters ◽

High Household Income ◽

Income Coefficient ◽

Cancer Incidence Rates

Abstract Background There have been reports on regional variation in prevalence of hepatitis B and C, and Clonorchis sinensis (C. sinensis) infection, which indicates potential of spatial variation in liver cancer and gallbladder cancer incidence in Korea. Therefore, we aimed to assess the regional variation of liver and gallbladder cancer incidence and its determinants based on the regional distribution of risk factors, including hepatitis B infection in Korea. Methods This study used an ecological study design and district-level cancer incidence statistics generated by the National Cancer Center. Spatial clusters of liver and gallbladder cancer incidence were detected based on spatial scan statistics using SaTScan™ software. We set the size of maximum spatial scanning window of 25 and 35% of the population at risk for analyses of liver and gallbladder cancer, respectively. Significance level of 0.05 was used to reject the null hypothesis of no cluster. We fitted the Besag-York-Mollie model using integrated nested Laplace approximations to assess factors that influence the regional variation in cancer incidence. Results Spatial clusters with high liver cancer incidence rates were detected in the southwestern and southeastern regions of Korea. High gallbladder cancer incidence rates are clustered in the southeastern region. Regional liver cancer incidence can be accounted for the prevalence of high household income (coefficient, − 0.10; 95% credible interval [CI], − 0.18 to − 0.02), marital status (coefficient, − 0.14; 95% CI, − 0.25 to − 0.03), the incidence of hepatitis B (coefficient, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.29 to 1.44), and liver cancer screening (coefficient, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.00 to 0.12), while gallbladder cancer incidence was related to the prevalence of high household income (coefficient, − 0.03; 95% CI, − 0.05 to 0.00) and living close to a river with a high prevalence of liver fluke infection (coefficient, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.14 to 0.96). Conclusions This study demonstrated geographic variation in liver and gallbladder cancer incidence, which can be explained by determinants such as hepatitis B, income, marital status, and living near a river.

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