Primary lung cancer is the most common malignant tumor in China. From the perspective of pathology and treatment, lung cancer can be broadly divided into two categories: non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC), of which non-small cell lung cancer accounts for about 80-85, including adenocarcinoma, squamous carcinoma and other histological subtypes, and the rest is small cell lung cancer. Due to the unique biological characteristics of small cell lung cancer, the treatment mainly adopts a combination of chemotherapy (chemotherapy) and radiation therapy (radiotherapy), except for a few early cases. If not specifically stated, lung cancer refers to non-small cell lung cancer.
Lung cancer is the fastest growing malignant tumor in China in the past 30 years. The first retrospective survey of causes of death in China conducted in the mid-1970s showed that the mortality rate of lung cancer in China was 5.47/100,000 at that time, ranking 5th after stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer and cervical cancer, and accounting for 7.43% of all cancer deaths. According to the results of China’s second cause-of-death sample survey, the mortality rate of lung cancer in the 1990s ranked the 3rd cause of cancer deaths, after stomach cancer and esophageal cancer.
The third cause-of-death review survey conducted in the 21st century showed that lung cancer has become the leading cause of cancer death.
Data from the China Tumor Registry show that in 2015, there were 787,000 new cases of lung cancer in China, of which 0,000 were in men and 267,000 in women, accounting for 20.0 percent of all malignant tumor incidences. the national incidence rate (crude rate) of lung cancer was 57.3/100,000, of which 73.9/100,000 and 39.8/100,000 were in men and women, respectively. The incidence rate of lung cancer in urban areas was 59.7/100,000 and in rural areas was 54.2/100,000; the incidence rate of lung cancer in both urban and rural areas ranked first in malignant tumors. 630,000 lung cancer deaths were recorded in China in 2015, of which 433,000 were in men and 197,000 in women, accounting for 27.0 of all deaths from malignant tumors. The national lung cancer mortality rate was 45.9 per 100,000, with a higher mortality rate among men (61.5 per 100,000) than women (29.4 per 100,000).
The regional distribution of lung cancer mortality was higher in urban areas (47.5/100,000) than in rural areas (43.9/100,000). In terms of the three major economic regions, east, central and west, the eastern region had the highest lung cancer mortality rate (49.6/100,000), followed by the central region (47.0/100,000) and the lowest in the west (40.0/100,000). Lung cancer mortality in China is low until the age of 44, rises rapidly after the age of 45, peaks at the age of 80 to 84 (416.0/100,000), and declines thereafter. The mortality trends for lung cancer in urban and rural areas were similar across age groups.