Patterns of hepatocellular carcinoma incidence in Egypt from a population-based cancer registry.
OBJECTIVE
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is increasing worldwide, and is frequently attributed to rising rates of hepatitis C virus infection and interactions between viral and environmental risk factors. Because of Egypt's unique risk factor profile, we analyzed data from the Gharbiah Population-Based Cancer Registry for the period 1999-2003 to characterize demographic and geographic patterns of cases in this province.


METHODS
We calculated age- and sex-specific and age- and sex-standardized HCC incidence rates for the eight districts in Gharbiah. We also compared rates from Gharbiah with the USA (US Surveillance Epidemiology and End RESULTS [SEER] database).


RESULTS
The analysis revealed a higher incidence in males than in females, significant geographic variations among districts, and a higher incidence in Gharbiah than that reported by SEER.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study document the heterogeneous distribution of HCC at regional and international levels. This population-based registry offers the opportunity for careful representative studies of various etiologies, particularly infectious and/or environmental factors that may contribute to risk.
Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Elizabeth M
EM
Lehman
Amr S
AS
Soliman
Kadry
K
Ismail
Ahmed
A
Hablas
Ibrahim A
IA
Seifeldin
Mohamed
M
Ramadan
Hesham
H
El-Hamzawy
Christiana S
CS
Shoushtari
Mark L
ML
Wilson