Cancer burden with ageing population in urban regions in China: projection on cancer registry data from World Health Organization

Abstract China is facing the challenges of an expanding ageing population and the impact of rapid urbanization, cancer rates are subsequently increasing. This study focuses on the changes of the ageing population and projects the incidence of common ageing-related cancers in the urban regions in China up to 2030. Cancer incidence data and population statistics in China were extracted from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Due to improving longevity in China, continuous and remarkable increasing trends for the lung, colorectal and prostate cancers are expected. The rate of expanding ageing population was taken into account when predicting the trend of cancer incidence; the estimations of ageing-related cancers were more factual and significant than using the conventional approach of age standardization. The incidence rates of lung, colorectal and prostate cancers will continue to rise in the future decades due to the rise of ageing population. Lifestyle modification such as cutting tobacco smoking rates and promoting healthier diets as well as cancer screening programs should be a health system priority in order to decrease the growing burden of cancer-related mortality and morbidity.