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
. 2024 Sep 5;19(9):e0309465.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309465. eCollection 2024.

Trends of primary liver cancer incidence and mortality in the United States: A population-based study over the last four decades

Saryia Adra  1 , Yousef Alabrach  1   2 , Anas Hashem  1   3 , Amir Mahmoud  3 , Amani Khalouf  1   3 , Ahmed El-Khapery  1   3 , Ali Abdelhay  3 , Mohamad Mansour  1   4 , Batool Aldaher  1 , Hiba Barqawi  1   5 , Eman Abu-Gharbieh  1   5
Affiliations

Trends of primary liver cancer incidence and mortality in the United States: A population-based study over the last four decades

Saryia Adra et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Primary liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and has one of the worst 5-year survival rates. This study examines US primary liver cancer incidence and incidence-based mortality trends over four decades.

Research design and methods: The SEER-9 registry was used to study primary liver cancer cases from 1978 to 2018. The incidence and mortality rates were calculated based on gender, age, race, and stage of diagnosis. Joinpoint regression software was used to calculate the annual percent change.

Results: The overall incidence rate of primary liver cancer from 1978 to 2018 increased by 2.71%/year (p<0.001). Rates in patients <50 years old began to fall in 2002 at a rate of -3.62%/year (p<0.001). Similarly, the incidence-based mortality rates for primary liver cancer increased by 2.15%/year (p<0.001). Whereas Whites incidence-based mortality rates began to plateau in 2012 (0.18%/year; p = 0.84), Blacks rates have declined since 2010 (-2.93%/year; p = 0.03), and Asian rates have declined since 1999 (-1.30%/year; p<0.001).

Conclusion: While the overall primary liver cancer incidence and incidence-based mortality have been increasing over the last four decades, there was an observed decline in incidence and incidence-based mortality in recent years, especially among at-risk subgroups.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Study flowchart design and patient selection.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Age-standardized incidence rates of primary liver cancer in the SEER-9 US cancer registry, 1978–2018.
Solid circles represent incidence rates, open circles represent years with a significant change in annual percent changes in rates, and lines represent modeled rates using Joinpoint regression. The y-axis varies between figures.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Age-standardized mortality rates for primary liver cancer in the SEER-9 US cancer registry, 1978–2018.
Solid circles represent incidence rates, open circles represent years with a significant change in annual percent change in rates, and lines represent modeled rates using Joinpoint regression. The y-axis varies across figures.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries | Enhanced Reader. - PubMed
    1. Allemani C, Matsuda T, Di Carlo V, Harewood R, Matz M, Nikšić M, et al.. Global surveillance of trends in cancer survival 2000–14 (CONCORD-3): analysis of individual records for 37 513 025 patients diagnosed with one of 18 cancers from 322 population-based registries in 71 countries. The Lancet. 2018;391: 1023–1075. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)33326-3 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dasgupta P, Henshaw C, Youlden DR, Clark PJ, Aitken JF, Baade PD. Global Trends in Incidence Rates of Primary Adult Liver Cancers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Oncology. 2020;0: 171. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2020.00171 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Macias RIR, Monte MJ, Serrano MA, González-Santiago JM, Martín-Arribas I, Simão AL, et al.. Impact of aging on primary liver cancer: epidemiology, pathogenesis and therapeutics. Aging (Albany NY). 2021;13: 23416. doi: 10.18632/aging.203620 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Petrick JL, McGlynn KA. The changing epidemiology of primary liver cancer. Current epidemiology reports. 2019;6: 104. doi: 10.1007/s40471-019-00188-3 - DOI - PMC - PubMed