Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Nov 15;17(4):879-895.
doi: 10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2020.0387. Epub 2020 Dec 15.

Cancer burden in China: trends, risk factors and prevention

Dianqin Sun  1 , He Li  1 , Maomao Cao  1 , Siyi He  1 , Lin Lei  2 , Ji Peng  2 , Wanqing Chen  1
Affiliations
Review

Cancer burden in China: trends, risk factors and prevention

Dianqin Sun et al. Cancer Biol Med. .

Abstract

As the most populous country in the world, China has made strides in health promotion in the past few decades. With the aging population, the burden of cancer in China continues to grow. Changes in risk factors for cancer, especially diet, obesity, diabetes, and air pollution, continue to fuel the shift of cancer transition in China. The burden of upper gastrointestinal cancer in China is decreasing, but still heavy. The rising burden of colorectal, prostate, and breast cancers is also significant. Lung cancer became the top cause of cancer-related deaths, together with smoking as the most important contributor to cancer deaths. The Chinese government has taken several approaches to control cancer and cancer-related risk factors. Many achievements have been made, but some challenges remain. Health China 2030 is ambitious and depicts a bright vision of the future for cancer control in China. The decrease in the cancer burden in China will require cross-sector collaboration and coordinated efforts on primary and secondary preventions by governments, public health organizations, and individuals. In this review, we describe the trends of cancer burden and discuss cancer-related risk factors in China, identifying strategies to reduce the burden of cancer in China.

Keywords: Cancer burden; China; prevention; risk factor; time trends.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement No potential conflicts of interest are disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Rank changes in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to cancers and percentage changes in all-age and age-standardized DALY rates in China from 1990 to 2017. The estimates used to generate this figure were from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation website. Age-standardized rates were calculated using the GBD reference population.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The age-standardized 5-year relative survival rates of common types of cancers in China from 2003 to 2015. The data were from Zeng et al.. Age-standardized rates were calculated using the International Cancer Survival Standards.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The proportion of cancer deaths that could be attributed to modifiable risk factors in common types of cancer deaths among males and females in China. The data used to generate this figure were from Chen et al.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Rank changes in cancer deaths attributable to 32 modifiable risk factors, and percentage changes in cancer deaths attributable to these risk factors in China from 1990 to 2017. The estimates used to generate this figure were from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation website.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Timeline of key policies in cancer prevention and cancer-related risk factor control in China.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Yang G, Wang Y, Zeng Y, Gao GF, Liang X, Zhou M, et al. Rapid health transition in China, 1990–2010: findings from the global burden of disease study 2010. Lancet. 2013;381:1987–2015. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zheng RS, Sun KX, Zhang SW, Zeng HM, Zou XN, Chen R, et al. Report of cancer epidemiology in China, 2015. Zhonghua Zhong Liu Za Zhi. 2019;41:19–28. [in Chinese] - PubMed
    1. Cogliano VJ. Identifying carcinogenic agents in the workplace and environment. Lancet Oncol. 2010;11:602. - PubMed
    1. Doll R, Peto R. The causes of cancer: quantitative estimates of avoidable risks of cancer in the united states today. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1981;66:1191–308. - PubMed
    1. Wei W, Zeng H, Zheng R, Zhang S, An L, Chen R, et al. Cancer registration in China and its role in cancer prevention and control. Lancet Oncol. 2020;21:e342–9. - PubMed

Publication types