Abstract
OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of stomach cancer on the Chinese population by epidemiological analysis of its distributional mortality.
METHODS Data from 1990-1992 on stomach cancer mortality collected by a sampling survey involved one tenth of the total Chinese population.
RESULTS The crude mortality rate of stomach cancer in China was 25.2 per 105(32.8 per 105for males and 17.0 per 105 for females), which comprised 23.2% of the total cancer deaths from 1990 to 1992, making stomach cancer the leading cause of cancer death. The stomach cancer mortality rate of males was 1.9 times of that of females. The Chinese mortality rates of stomach cancer adjusted by the world standard population were 40.8 per 105 and 18.6 per 105 for males and females, which were 4.2-7.9 (for males) and 3.8-8.0 (for females) times of those in developed countries. Age-adjusted mortality rates of stomach cancer in China have distinct geographical differences: form the lowest of 2.5 per 105 to the highest of 153.0 per 105 In the 263 selected sites, and 15.3 per 105 In urban areas and 24.4 per 105 in rural areas, a difference of 1.6 times.
CONCLUSION The prevention and treatment of stomach cancer in China, especially in the countryside and the under-developed areas in the northwest, should be a long-term focus in preventing of cancers of the digestive system. Urgent measures for prevention and early detection of stomach cancer should be taken.
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- Received May 21, 2004.
- Accepted August 10, 2004.
- Copyright © 2004 by Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital and Springer