Temporal trends, disease burden and attributable risk factors of stomach and colorectal cancers among 31 countries and territories in Western Pacific region, 2000-2021.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to describe the updated disease burden and temporal trends of stomach cancer (SC) and colorectal cancer (CRC), and to explore potential influence factors of the two cancers in the Western Pacific region (WPR).

Methods: Estimates of incidence, deaths, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for SC and CRC were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. Trends in age-standardized incidence rates (ASIR), age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR), and age-standardized DALY rates (ASDR) were assessed. A decomposition analysis was conducted to quantify the role of three factors (i.e., population aging, population growth, and epidemiological change) driving DALY changes between 2000 and 2021. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the association between cancer burden and Socio-demographic Index (SDI) at the national level in 2021.

Results: In 2021, the WPR accounted for 61.77% of global incident SC cases and 43.07% of global incident CRC cases. From 2000 to 2021, the ASIR, ASMR, and ASDR of SC and the ASMR and ASDR of CRC decreased, whereas the ASIR of CRC increased by an average of 1.32% per year. Among the 31 WPR countries and territories, China had the highest number of incident cases, deaths, and DALYs for both cancers in 2021. Epidemiology change was the primary driver to the reduction of DALYs for SC, while population aging and population growth contributed to the increase of DALYs for CRC. Additionally, ASMR (r=-0.37, P=0.041) and ASDR (r=-0.43, P=0.016) of SC were negatively correlated with SDI in 2021, whereas positive correlations were observed between SDI and ASIR (r=0.74, P<0.001), ASMR (r=0.47, P=0.008), and ASDR (r=0.36, P=0.044) for CRC.

Conclusions: SC and CRC continue to pose considerable public health threats in the WPR. Targeted prevention and control strategies should be prioritized, particularly in high-burden and resource-limited countries.