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.

The incidence and mortality rates of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in China, have significantly increased in recent years, and present geographic and gender differences as a result of diversity in lifestyles and socioeconomic development. A series of attribute risk analyses have shown that factors such as smoking, air pollution, and occupational factors are all related to lung cancer. Behavioral intervention, such as smoking cessation and screening, could effectively reduce lung cancer incidence and mortality.

Cancer is still a major health problem in China although numerous efforts have been made for its prevention and control. Findings from this study showed that lung cancer remains the most common type of cancer diagnosed, and was attributed to nearly 30% of all cancer-related deaths. The incidence of the five most common cancers, in China, in 2015, including cancers of the lungs, stomach, colorectum, liver and breast, accounted for almost 60% of all cancers diagnosed. The high cancer burden in China highlights the need for further improvement in health education, professional training and the building up an anti-cancer network for introducing and implementing sustainable actions for cancer control.

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