Background:The cancer burden in the United States of America (USA) has decreased gradually. However, China is experiencing a transition in its cancer profiles, with greater incidence of cancers that were previously more common in the USA. This study compared the latest cancer profiles, trends, and determinants between China and USA.Methods:This was a comparative study using open-source data. Cancer cases and deaths in 2022 were calculated using cancer estimates from GLOBOCAN 2020 and population estimates from the United Nations. Trends in cancer incidence and mortality rates in the USA used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program and National Center for Health Statistics. Chinese data were obtained from cancer registry reports. Data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 and a decomposition method were used to express cancer deaths as the product of four determinant factors.Results:In 2022, there will be approximately 4,820,000 and 2,370,000 new cancer cases, and 3,210,000 and 640,000 cancer deaths in China and the USA, respectively. The most common cancers are lung cancer in China and breast cancer in the USA, and lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both. Age-standardized incidence and mortality rates for lung cancer and colorectal cancer in the USA have decreased significantly recently, but rates of liver cancer have increased slightly. Rates of stomach, liver, and esophageal cancer decreased gradually in China, but rates have increased for colorectal cancer in the whole population, prostate cancer in men, and other seven cancer types in women. Increases in adult population size and population aging were major determinants for incremental cancer deaths, and case-fatality rates contributed to reduced cancer deaths in both countries.Conclusions:The decreasing cancer burden in liver, stomach, and esophagus, and increasing burden in lung, colorectum, breast, and prostate, mean that cancer profiles in China and the USA are converging. Population aging is a growing determinant of incremental cancer burden. Progress in cancer prevention and care in the USA, and measures to actively respond to population aging, may help China to reduce the cancer burden.

National Key R&D Program of China, PUMC Youth Fund and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and Major State Basic Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

Objective: To describe the cancer incidence and mortality rates in 2006 and evaluate the cancer burden in China.Methods: Cancer registration data in 2006 from 34 cancer registries were collected, evaluated and pooled to calculate cancer incidence and mortality rates. The data analyses included mortality to incidence ratio (MI), morphological verification percentage (MV%) and proportion of death certification only (DCO%). Cumulative incidence and mortality rates were calculated using crude data, age-standardized data, and specific data for cancer site, age, sex and area (urban or rural).Results: In 2006, 34 registries with qualified registration data covered a total population of 59,567,322 (46,558,108 in urban areas and 13,009,214 in rural areas). The crude and age-standardized cancer incidence rates were 273.66 per 100,000 and 190.54 per 100,000, respectively. The crude and age-standardized cancer mortality rates were 175.70 per 100,000 and 117.67 per 100,000, respectively. Cancers of lung, stomach, colon and rectum, liver, and breast in female were the five most common forms of cancer in China, which accounted for 58.99% of all new cancer cases. Lung cancer was the leading cause of cancer death, followed by stomach cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer and colorectal cancer. Conclusion:Cancer is still an important public health issue in China with an increasing disease burden. Specifically, the incidence rates for lung cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer were increasing, but those for stomach cancer and esophageal cancer were decreasing. However, age-specific incidence rate remained stable, indicating that the aging population was the major source of the increasing cancer burden.

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