pISSN 1598-2998, eISSN 2005-9256 Cancer Res Treat. 2015;47(2):127-141 http://dx.doi.org/10.4143/crt.2015.060 Special Article Open Access pISSN 1598-2998 eISSN 2005-9256 http://www.e-crt.org Cancer Statistics in Korea: Incidence, Mortality, Survival, and Prevalence in 2012 Kyu-Won Jung, MS1,2 Purpose Young-Joo Won, PhD1,2 The aim of this study was to report nationwide cancer statistics in Korea, including incidence, mortality, survival, and prevalence, and their trends. Hyun-Joo Kong, MS1,2 Chang-Mo Oh, MD, PhD1,2 Materials and Methods Hyunsoon Cho, PhD1,2 Incidence data from 1993 to 2012 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Duk Hyoung Lee, MD, PhD2 Incidence Database, and vital status was followed through December 31, 2013. Kang Hyun Lee, MD, PhD1 Mortality data from 1983 to 2012 were obtained from Statistics Korea. Crude and age-standardized rates for incidence, mortality, and prevalence, and relative survival were calculated. Results A total of 224,177 cancer cases and 73,759 cancer deaths were reported in 2012, and there were 1,234,879 prevalent cases identified in Korea as of January 1, 2013. Over the past 14 years (1999-2012), overall incidence rates have increased by 3.3% 1The Korea Central Cancer Registry and per year. The incidence rates of liver and cervical cancers have decreased, while those 2 National Cancer Control Institute, of thyroid, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers have increased. Notably, incidence National Cancer Center, Goyang, Korea of thyroid cancer increased by 22.3% per year in both sexes and has been the most common cancer since 2009. The mortality for all cancers combined decreased by 2.7% per year from 2002 to 2012. Five-year relative survival rates of patients diag- nosed in the last 5 years (2008-2012) have improved by 26.9% compared with those from 1993 to1995. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Conclusion + C +o r+re s+p o +n d +e n +c e :+ Y +ou +ng -+J o +o W + o +n , +Ph +D + + + + + T +h e + K o+r e+a C+e n+t r +al C+a n+c e+r R+e g+i s t+ry +, + + + + + Overall cancer mortality rates have declined since 2002 in Korea, while incidence + N +a t+io n+a l+ C a+n c+e r +C e+n t e+r , +3 2 +3 I l+s a +n- r+o , + + + + + has increased and survival has improved. + I l+s a +nd +on +g- g+u ,+ G o+y a+n g+ 4 1+0 -+76 9+, K+o r+e a + + + + + + T +e l :+ 8 2 +-3 1+- 9 +20 -+2 0 +15 + + + + + + + + + + + + + F +a x +: 8 2+- 3 +1- 9+2 0 +-2 1+7 9 + + + + + + + + + + + + + E +-m +a i l+: a +st r +a6 7+@ +nc c+.r e+.k r+ + + + + + + + + + Key words + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Incidence, Mortality, Survival, Prevalence, Neoplasms, Korea + R +e c +ei v +e d + F +eb r+u a+r y + 1 7 +, 2 +01 5+ + + + + + + + + + A +c c +e p +te d + F +e b +ru a+r y + 2 2+, 2 +0 1 +5 + + + + + + + + + P +u b +li s +h e d+ o +n l i+n e + M +a r+c h + 3 , +2 0 1+5 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Introduction 1. Data sources The Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea, initiated a Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Korea since nationwide hospital-based cancer registry called the Korea 1983 [1] and is the most burdensome disease [2]. More than Central Cancer Registry (KCCR) in 1980. The registry 210,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed in Korea each year, collected 80%-90% of cancer cases annually from more than and cancer is responsible for one in four deaths [3]. This 180 training hospitals throughout the country. article reports the most recent nationwide cancer statistics in In 1999, the KCCR expanded cancer registration to cover Korea, including incidence, mortality, survival, prevalence, the entire population under the Population-Based Regional and their trends. Cancer Registry Program. Details of the history, objectives, │ http://www.e-crt.org │ Copyright ⓒ 2015 by the Korean Cancer Association 127 This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cancer Res Treat. 2015;47(2):127-141 Table 1. Cancer incidence, prevalence, and deaths by sex in Korea, 2012 New cases Deaths Prevalent casesa) Site/Type Both Male Female Both Male Female Both Male Female All sites 224,177 112,385 111,792 73,759 46,462 27,297 1,234,879 547,837 687,042 Lip, oral cavity, 2,913 2,135 778 1,036 809 227 17,024 11,501 5,523 and pharynx Esophagus 2,332 2,116 216 1,398 1,278 120 7,444 6,714 730 Stomach 30,847 20,839 10,008 9,342 6,090 3,252 207,145 137,655 69,490 Colon and rectum 28,988 17,445 11,543 8,135 4,666 3,469 173,459 103,488 69,971 Liver 16,254 12,152 4,102 11,335 8,494 2,841 51,402 38,434 12,968 Gallbladderb) 5,131 2,600 2,531 3,688 1,818 1,870 14,778 7,532 7,246 Pancreas 5,403 2,940 2,463 4,778 2,616 2,162 7,032 3,803 3,229 Larynx 1,099 1,036 63 412 389 23 8,600 8,076 524 Lung 22,118 15,367 6,751 16,654 12,175 4,479 53,480 34,422 19,058 Breast 16,589 68 16,521 2,013 20 1,993 132,139 558 131,581 Cervix uteri 3,584 - 3,584 889 - 889 43,523 - 43,523 Corpus uteri 1,979 - 1,979 244 - 244 15,191 - 15,191 Ovary 2,167 - 2,167 910 - 910 14,171 - 14,171 Prostate 9,258 9,258 - 1,460 1,460 - 49,007 49,007 - Testis 243 243 - 13 13 - 2,210 2,210 - Kidney 4,152 2,882 1,270 917 663 254 26,015 17,551 8,464 Bladder 3,485 2,798 687 1,221 918 303 25,497 20,754 4,743 Brain and CNS 1,703 933 770 1,186 619 567 8,626 4,508 4,118 Thyroid 44,007 8,052 35,955 373 127 246 258,795 40,921 217,874 Hodgkin lymphoma 264 177 87 64 44 20 2,006 1,281 725 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma 4,553 2,542 2,011 1,523 920 603 26,426 14,299 12,127 Multiple myeloma 1,272 696 576 823 472 351 3,842 2,042 1,800 Leukemia 2,826 1,595 1,231 1,666 919 747 14,890 8,216 6,674 Other and ill-defined 13,010 6,511 6,499 3,679 1,952 1,727 72,177 34,865 37,312 CNS, central nervous system. a)Limited-duration prevalent cases on January 1, 2013; These patients who were diagnosed between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2012 and were alive on January 1, 2013; Multiple primary cancer cases were counted multiple times, b)Includes the gallbladder and other/unspecified parts of the biliary tract. and activities of the KCCR have been documented elsewhere tion on July 1 of specified years. [4]. Incidence data for 1999-2012 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database (KNCI DB). The 2. Analysis completeness of incidence data for 2012 was 97.7%, as deter- mined by the Ajiki method [5]. Crude rates (CRs) and age-specific rates of cancer inci- Cancer cases were classified according to the International dence and mortality were calculated. Age-standardized rates Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third edition [6] and (ASRs) were calculated using Segi’s world standard popula- converted according to the International Classification of tion [8]. Cumulative risks of cancer, which represent the Diseases, 10th edition (ICD-10) [7]. A total of 2,405,894 cancer probability of developing cancer during one’s lifetime, were cases first diagnosed between 1993 and 2012 from the KNCI also calculated. Changes in the annual ASRs of cancer inci- DB were used in the survival analysis, and vital status was dence were examined by calculating the annual percentage followed until December 31, 2013. change over a time period as (exp(b)–1)100, where b is the Mortality data from 1983 to 2012 were obtained from slope of the regression of log ASR for a given calendar year Statistics Korea [1]. Cause of death was coded and classified [9]. according to ICD-10 [7]. Population data were also obtained Prevalence was also calculated for assessment of cancer from Statistics Korea using the resident registration popula- burden, which includes new and pre-existing cancer patients 128 CANCER RESEARCH AND TREATMENT Kyu-Won Jung, Cancer Statistics in Korea, 2012 Table 2. Crude and age-standardized cancer incidence rates by sex in Korea, 2012 Crude incidence rate Age-standardized incidence rate Site/Type per 100,000 per 100,000a) Both Male Female Both Male Female All sites 445.3 446.2 444.4 299.0 326.4 290.1 Lip, oral cavity, and pharynx 5.8 8.5 3.1 3.9 6.1 2.0 Esophagus 4.6 8.4 0.9 3.0 6.1 0.5 Stomach 61.3 82.7 39.8 39.9 59.3 23.5 Colon and rectum 57.6 69.3 45.9 37.3 50.0 26.8 Liver 32.3 48.2 16.3 21.1 34.3 9.5 Gallbladderb) 10.2 10.3 10.1 6.3 7.6 5.3 Pancreas 10.7 11.7 9.8 6.7 8.4 5.4 Larynx 2.2 4.1 0.3 1.4 3.0 0.1 Lung 43.9 61.0 26.8 27.4 44.3 14.9 Breast 33.0 0.3 65.7 22.6 0.2 44.7 Cervix uteri 7.1 - 14.2 4.9 - 9.5 Corpus uteri 3.9 - 7.9 2.7 - 5.3 Ovary 4.3 - 8.6 3.1 - 6.0 Prostate 18.4 36.8 - 11.6 27.0 - Testis 0.5 1.0 - 0.5 0.9 - Kidney 8.2 11.4 5.0 5.6 8.2 3.2 Bladder 6.9 11.1 2.7 4.3 8.1 1.4 Brain and CNS 3.4 3.7 3.1 2.8 3.3 2.4 Thyroid 87.4 32.0 142.9 62.5 23.0 102.4 Hodgkin lymphoma 0.5 0.7 0.3 0.5 0.6 0.3 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma 9.0 10.1 8.0 6.6 7.9 5.6 Multiple myeloma 2.5 2.8 2.3 1.6 2.0 1.4 Leukemia 5.6 6.3 4.9 4.9 5.9 4.1 Other and ill-defined 25.8 25.9 25.8 17.6 20.1 15.7 CNS, central nervous system.