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. 2017 Jul;49(3):616-626.
doi: 10.4143/crt.2016.178. Epub 2016 Sep 23.

Lung Cancer Epidemiology in Korea

Aesun Shin  1   2   3 , Chang-Mo Oh  1 , Byung-Woo Kim  1 , Hyeongtaek Woo  2 , Young-Joo Won  1 , Jin-Soo Lee  4
Affiliations

Lung Cancer Epidemiology in Korea

Aesun Shin et al. Cancer Res Treat. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Purpose: The current study was undertaken to examine the trends in the lung cancer incidence, mortality, and survival after a diagnosis in Korea.

Materials and methods: Lung cancer incidence data according to the histologic type and mortality data were obtained from the Korea Central Cancer Registry and the Statistics Korea, respectively. The age-standardized incidence and mortality rates were calculated, and the Joinpoint model and age-period-cohort analyses were used to describe the trends in the rates. The 5-year relative survival rates of lung cancer were also calculated.

Results: Although the number of new lung cancer cases increased between 1999 and 2012, the age-standardized incidence rate decreased by 0.9% per year in men, whereas the incidence in women increased by 1.7% per year over the same time. Until 2010, the most common histologic type in men was squamous cell carcinoma, then adenocarcinoma prevailed thereafter. Since 1999, the most frequent histological type in women was adenocarcinoma. The lung cancer mortality started to decrease in 2002, with a more apparent decline for the younger age groups in both men and women. Overall, the 5-year relative survival rates have improved significantly from 11.2% for men and 14.7% for women among patients diagnosed between 1993 and 1997 to 19.3% for men and 28.2% for women among patients diagnosed between 2008 and 2012, respectively. An improvement in survival rate was observed for all major histology groups.

Conclusion: The epidemiology of lung cancer in Korea has changed over a short time span, with decreasing mortality and improving survival rates. Further study is warranted to determine the cause of these changes.

Keywords: Adenocarcinoma; Epidemiology; Incidence; Lung neoplasms; Mortality; Survival.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest relevant to this article was not reported.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Proportion of lung cancer cases according to the histologic types, based on the Korea Central Cancer Registry, 1999 and 2012.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Age-standardized incidence rates of lung cancer according to the histologic types in men (A) and women (B), based on the Korea Central Cancer Registry, 1999-2012.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Age-period-cohort analysis for lung cancer mortality in men (A) and women (B) in Korea.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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