PurposeThe aim of this study was to report nationwide cancer statistics in Korea, including incidence, mortality, survival, and prevalence, and their trends.Materials and MethodsIncidence data from 1993 to 2012 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database, and vital status was followed through December 31, 2013. Mortality data from 1983 to 2012 were obtained from Statistics Korea. Crude and age-standardized rates for incidence, mortality, and prevalence, and relative survival were calculated.ResultsA total of 224,177 cancer cases and 73,759 cancer deaths were reported in 2012, and there were 1,234,879 prevalent cases identified in Korea as of January 1, 2013. Over the past 14 years (1999-2012), overall incidence rates have increased by 3.3% per year. The incidence rates of liver and cervical cancers have decreased, while those of thyroid, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers have increased. Notably, incidence of thyroid cancer increased by 22.3% per year in both sexes and has been the most common cancer since 2009. The mortality for all cancers combined decreased by 2.7% per year from 2002 to 2012. Five-year relative survival rates of patients diagnosed in the last 5 years (2008-2012) have improved by 26.9% compared with those from 1993 to1995.ConclusionOverall cancer mortality rates have declined since 2002 in Korea, while incidence has increased and survival has improved.

PurposeThis article gives an overview of nationwide cancer statistics, including incidence, mortality, survival and prevalence, and their trends in Korea based on 2010 cancer incidence data.Materials and MethodsIncidence data from 1993 to 2010 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database, and vital status was followed until 31 December 2011. Mortality data from 1983 to 2010 were obtained from Statistics Korea. Crude and age-standardized rates for incidence, mortality, prevalence, and relative survival were calculated.ResultsIn total, 202,053 cancer cases and 72,046 cancer deaths occurred during 2010, and 960,654 prevalent cancer cases were identified in Korea as of 1 January 2011. The incidence of all cancers combined showed an annual increase of 3.3% from 1999 to 2010. The incidences of liver and cervical cancers have decreased while those of thyroid, breast, prostate and colorectal cancers have increased. Notably, thyroid cancer, which is the most common cancer in Korea, increased by 24.2% per year rapidly in both sexes. The mortality of all cancers combined showed a decrease by 2.7% annually from 2002 to 2010. Five-year relative survival rates of patients who were diagnosed with cancer from 2006 to 2011 had improved by 22.9% compared with those from 1993 to 1995.ConclusionWhile the overall cancer incidence in Korea has increased rapidly, age-standardized cancer mortality rates have declined since 2002 and survival has improved.

PurposeThis study presents the 2014 nationwide cancer statistics in Korea, including cancer incidence, survival, prevalence, and mortality.Materials and MethodsCancer incidence data from 1999 to 2014 was obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database and followed until December 31, 2015. Mortality data from 1983 to 2014 were obtained from Statistics Korea. The prevalence was defined as the number of cancer patients alive on January 1, 2015, among all cancer patients diagnosed since 1999. Crude and age-standardized rates (ASRs) for incidence, mortality, prevalence, and 5-year relative survivals were also calculated.ResultsIn 2014, 217,057 and 76,611 Koreans were newly diagnosed and died from cancer respectively. The ASRs for cancer incidence and mortality in 2014 were 270.7 and 85.1 per 100,000, respectively. The all-cancer incidence rate has increased significantly by 3.4% annually from 1999 to 2012, and started to decrease after 2012 (2012-2014; annual percent change, –6.6%). However, overall cancer mortality has decreased 2.7% annually since 2002. The 5-year relative survival rate for patients diagnosed with cancer between 2010 and 2014 was 70.3%, an improvement from the 41.2% for patients diagnosed between 1993 and 1995.ConclusionAge-standardized cancer incidence rates have decreased since 2012 and mortality rates have also declined since 2002, while 5-year survival rates have improved remarkably from 1993-1995 to 2010-2014 in Korea.

PurposeThis study aimed to report nationwide cancer statistics in Korea, including incidence, mortality, survival, and prevalence, and their trends.Materials and MethodsIncidence data from 1993 to 2011 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database, and vital status was followed through December 31, 2012. Mortality data from 1983 to 2011 were obtained from Statistics Korea. Crude and age-standardized rates for incidence, mortality, and prevalence, and relative survival were calculated.ResultsA total of 218,017 cancer cases and 71,579 cancer deaths were reported to have occurred in 2011, and there were 1,097,253 prevalent cases identified in Korea as of January 1, 2012. Over the past 13 years (1999-2011), overall incidence rates have increased by 3.4% per year. The incidence rates of liver and cervical cancers have decreased, while those of thyroid, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers have increased. Notably, thyroid cancer increased by 23.3% per year in both sexes, and became the most common cancer since 2009. The mortality for all cancers combined decreased by 2.7% per year from 2002 to 2011. Five-year relative survival rates of patients diagnosed in the last 5 years (2007-2011) have improved by 25.1% compared with those from 1993 to 1995.ConclusionOverall cancer mortality rates have declined since 2002 in Korea, while incidence has increased rapidly and survival has improved.

Purpose:This study described the 2013 nationwide cancer statistics in Korea, including cancer incidence, survival, prevalence, and mortality.Materials and Methods:Cancer incidence data from 1999-2013 were obtained from Korea National Cancer Incidence Database and followed until December 31, 2014. Mortality data from 1983-2013 were obtained from Statistics Korea. The prevalence was defined as the number of cancer patients alive on January 1, 2014 among all cancer patients diagnosed since 1999. Crude, and age-standardized and 5-year relative survival rates were also calculated.Results:In 2013, a total of 225,343 and 75,334 Koreans were newly diagnosed and died from cancer, respectively. The age-standardized rates for cancer incidence and mortality in 2013 were 290.5 and 87.9 per 100,000, respectively. The age-standardized cancer incidence rate increased 3.1% annually between 1999 and 2013. However, the overall cancer incidence rates have decreased slightly in recent years (2011 to 2013). The age-standardized rate for all-cancer mortality has decreased 2.7% annually since 2002. Overall, the 5-year relative survival rate for people diagnosed with cancer between 2009 and 2013 was 69.4%, which represents an improved survival rate as compared with 41.2% for people diagnosed between 1993 and 1995.Conclusion:Age-standardized cancer incidence rates have decreased between 2011 and 2013; mortality rates have also declined since 2002, while 5-year survival rates have improved remarkably from 1993-1995 to 2009-2013 in Korea.

PurposeThis study overviews nationwide cancer statistics, including incidence, mortality, survival, and prevalence, and their trends in Korea based on 2009 cancer incidence data.Materials and MethodsIncidence data from 1993-2009 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database, and vital status was followed through 31 December 2010. Mortality data from 1983-2009 were obtained from Statistics Korea. Crude rates and age-standardized rates for incidence, mortality, and prevalence; and relative survival were calculated.ResultsIn total, 192,561 cancer cases and 69,780 cancer deaths were observed during 2009, and 808,503 10-year cancer prevalent cases occurred in Korea as of 1 January 2010. The incidence rate for all cancers combined showed an annual increase of 3.3% from 1999 to 2009.ConclusionStomach, liver and cervical cancers have been decreasing and thyroid, breast and colorectal cancers have been increasing at large. In particular, in 2009, colorectal cancer became the third most common cancer in females and for the first time ranked higher than stomach cancer, which had been the long-standing common cancer in Korea. While overall cancer incidence has been rapidly increasing in Korea, age-standardized cancer mortality rates have been declining since 2002, and cancer survival has been improving.

PurposeThis paper overviews the nationwide cancer statistics including incidence, mortality, survival and prevalence, and their trends in Korea based on the year 2008 cancer incidence data.Materials and MethodsIncidence data from 1993 to 2008 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database, and the vital status was followed through December 31, 2009. Mortality data from 1983 to 2008 were obtained from the Korea National Statistics Office. Crude rates and age-standardized rates for incidence, mortality, prevalence and relative survival were calculated.ResultsThere were 178,816 cancer cases and 68,912 cancer deaths observed during year 2008 and 724,663 10-year cancer prevalent cases as of January 1, 2009 in Korea. The incidence rate for all cancer combined showed an annual increase of 3.1% from 1999 to 2008.ConclusionWith significantly increasing cancer incidence, Korea faces a large cancer burden and efficient cancer control programs are essential.

PurposeTo estimate the current cancer burden in Korea, cancer incidence and mortality rates were projected for the year 2012.Materials and MethodsThe cancer incidence data from 1999 to 2009 were obtained from the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database, and the cancer mortality data from 1993 to 2010 were obtained from Statistics Korea. Cancer incidence in 2012 was projected by fitting a linear regression model on observed age-specific cancer incidence rates against observed years, then multiplying the projected age-specific rates by the age-specific population. For cancer mortality, a similar procedure was applied, except that a Joinpoint regression model was used to determine at which year the linear trend significantly changed.ResultsA total of 234,727 new cancer cases and 73,313 cancer deaths are projected to occur in Korea in 2012. For all sites combined, the crude incidence rates are projected to be 465.6 and 459.7, and the age-standardized incidences to be 345.1 and 300.9 per 100,000 respectively for males and females.ConclusionCancer has become an important public health concern in Korea, and as the Korean population ages, the cancer burden will continue to increase.