title: The incidence and mortality of major cancers in China, 2012.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The National Central Cancer Registry (NCCR) collected population-based cancer registration data in 2012 from local registries and estimated the cancer incidence and mortality in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the middle of 2015, 261 cancer registries submitted reports on new cancer cases and deaths occurred in 2012. Qualified data from 193 registries were used for analysis after evaluation. Crude rates, number of cases, and age-standardized rates stratified by area (urban/rural), sex, age group, and cancer type were calculated according to the national population in 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The covered population were 198,060,406 from 193 qualified cancer registries (74 urban and 119 rural registries). The major indicators of quality control, percentage of cases morphologically verified (MV%), death certificate-only cases (DCO%), and the mortality to incidence (M/I) ratio, were 69.13%, 2.38%, and 0.62, respectively. It was estimated that there were 3,586,200 new cancer cases and 2,186,600 cancer deaths in 2012 in China with an incidence of 264.85/100,000 [age-standardized rate of incidence by the Chinese standard population (ASRIC) of 191.89/100,000] and a mortality of 161.49/100,000 [age-standardized rate of mortality by the Chinese standard population (ASRMC) of 112.34/100,000]. The ten most common cancer sites were the lung, stomach, liver, colorectum, esophagus, female breast, thyroid, cervix, brain, and pancreas, accounting for approximately 77.4% of all new cancer cases. The ten leading causes of cancer death were lung cancer, liver cancer, gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, female breast cancer, brain tumor, leukemia, and lymphoma, accounting for 84.5% of all cancer deaths.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Continuous cancer registry data provides basic information in cancer control programs. The cancer burden in China is gradually increasing, both in urban and rural areas, in males and females. Efficient cancer prevention and control, such as health education, tobacco control, and cancer screening, should be paid attention by the health sector and the whole society of China.
authors.affiliation: National Office for Cancer Prevention and Control & National Central Cancer Registry, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China. chenwq@cicams.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Wanqing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: National Office for Cancer Prevention and Control & National Central Cancer Registry, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Rongshou
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: National Office for Cancer Prevention and Control & National Central Cancer Registry, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: National Office for Cancer Prevention and Control & National Central Cancer Registry, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Siwei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality*; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cancer registry; China; Epidemiology; Incidence; Mortality