Cancer Statistics in Korea: Incidence, Mortality, Survival, and Prevalence in 2017

Abstract

Purpose: This study reports the cancer statistics and temporal trends in Korea on a nationwide scale, including incidence, survival, prevalence, and mortality in 2017.

Materials and methods: The incidence, survival, and prevalence rates of cancer were evaluated using data from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database from 1999 to 2017 with follow-up until December 31, 2018. Deaths from cancer were assessed using cause-of-death data from 1983 to 2017, obtained from Statistics Korea. Crude and age-standardized rates (ASRs) for incidence, mortality, and prevalence, and 5-year relative survival rates were calculated and trend analysis was performed.

Results: In 2017, newly diagnosed cancer cases and deaths from cancer numbered 232,255 (ASR, 264.4 per 100,000) and 78,863 (ASR, 76.6 per 100,000), respectively. The overall cancer incidence rates increased annually by 3.5% from 1999 to 2011 and decreased by 2.7% annually thereafter. Cancer mortality rates have been decreasing since 2002, by 2.8% annually. The 5-year relative survival rate for all patients diagnosed with cancer between 2013 and 2017 was 70.4%, which contributed to a prevalence of approximately 1.87 million cases by the end of 2017.

Conclusion: The burden of cancer measured by incidence and mortality rates have improved in Korea, with the exception of a few particular cancers that are associated with increasing incidence or mortality rates. However, cancer prevalence is increasing rapidly, with the dramatic improvement in survival during the past several years. Comprehensive cancer control strategies and efforts should continue, based on the changes of cancer statistics.

Keywords: Incidence; Korea; Mortality; Neoplasms; Prevalence; Survival.

Fig. 1.

The five common sites of cancer incidence by age group and sex for 2017 in Korea. (A) Men. (B) Women. Numbers on each section are age-specific incidence rates per 100,000. CNS, central nervous system. ^a)Includes the gallbladder and other/unspecified parts of the biliary tract.

Fig. 2.

Age-specific incidence rates of common cancers for 2017 in Korea. (A) Men. (B) Women.

Fig. 3.

Annual age-standardized cancer incidence and mortality rates by sex for all sites from 1983 to 2017 in Korea. Age standardization was based on Segi’s world standard population.

Fig. 4.

Trends in age-standardized incidences of selected cancers by sex from 1999 to 2017 in Korea. (A) Men. (B) Women. Age standardization was based on Segi’s world standard population.

Fig. 5.

Trends in age-standardized mortalities of selected cancers by sex from 1983 to 2017 in Korea. (A) Men. (B) Women. Age standardization was based on Segi’s world standard population. ^a)Cancers of cervix uteri, corpus uteri, and unspecified parts of the uterus were combined (C53-C55), due to their unclear classifications in the past.

Fig. 6.

Five-year relative survival rates by stage at diagnosis and stage distribution of selected cancers by sex in Korea, 2013-2017. (A) Men. (B) Women. Staging according to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) stage categories. For each cancer type, stage categories do not total 100% because sufficient information was not available to stage all cases. a)Includes the gallbladder and other/unspecified parts of the biliary tract.

Fig. 7.

Prevalent cases of common cancers by time since cancer diagnosis. Prevalent cases were defined as the number of cancer patients alive on January 1, 2018 among all cancer patients diagnosed between 1999 and 2017.