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China's cancer registry system has collected important data on the country's cancer burden over recent decades, supporting public health efforts to tackle the disease, according to an article published in the latest issue of The Lancet Oncology.
The review article, by the National Cancer Center (NCC) and the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, highlights the role of cancer registries in gathering data on incidence and mortality over several decades, data that have increasingly been put to use by public health practitioners in developing and implementing policy.
According to the article, titled "Cancer registration in China and its role in cancer prevention and control," recent decades have seen an increase in the cancer burden -- meaning the impact of the disease in terms of mortality, morbidity and financial cost, among other measures. By plotting the details of this development, registries have helped to identify various trends, as well as likely causes for various types of cancer within specific groups.
"Cancer has become a leading cause of death in China, with an increasing burden of cancer incidence and mortality observed over the past half century," says the article's summary. "Population-based cancer registries have been operating in China for about 60 years, and, in 2018, their role has expanded to include the formulation and evaluation of national cancer control programmes and the care of patients with cancer."
Cancer is a major public health and economic issue worldwide, posing an ever-increasing health burden, and China is no exception.
In China, from 1973 to 1975, cancer accounted for 10.1 percent of all deaths. By 2015, this had risen to 24.2 percent, mainly due to the country's aging population, said the article.
The overall incidence of cancers increased between 2000 and 2015, with stomach, esophageal and liver cancers accounting for the heaviest mortality burden.
Lung, stomach, liver, colorectal, esophageal and bladder cancers are the most common types in males, while breast, lung, colorectal, thyroid, stomach and cervical cancers predominate in females.
In addition to population aging, obesity, lack of exercise, smoking and air pollution may also be responsible for the increasing cancer burden, according to the study.
However, the article said the five-year survival rate among cancer patients in China had improved in recent years. It was 40.5 percent in the period 2012-2015, up from 30.9 percent in 2003-2005.
Since 2005, China has launched a series of cancer screening programs in a bid to increase the survival times of patients and narrow the urban-rural gap, aided in part by data supplied by the registries.
In the areas targeted by the programs, the rate of early diagnosis has exceeded 80 percent, the treatment rate has reached 90 percent and the mortality rate of the screened population has been reduced by 46 percent.
China established its first cancer registry in 1959. Up to 2019, its cancer registry system covered 438 million people, accounting for 31.5 percent of the country's total population.
Cancer registration has been implemented in all 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland, with 574 cancer registries set up nationwide, according to the article.
