Purpose: The current study was undertaken to examine the trend in gallbladder cancer (GBC) incidence and survival in Korea.
Materials and methods: GBC incidence data by histologic typewere obtained from the Korea Central Cancer Registry. Age-standardized incidence rates were calculated using the mid-year Korean population of 2000 as a standard population, and a joinpoint regression model was used to calculate the annual percent change (APC) in incidence rates. Incidence by Surveillance, Epidemiology and End results (SEER) summary stage and by geographical areas and female-to-male incidence rate ratios was also described.
Results: The number of new GBC cases increased between 1999 and 2013. Nevertheless, the agestandardized incidence rate decreased by 0.5% per year in men (p < 0.01), whereas the incidence rate in women did not change significantly over the same period (APC, -0.2; p=0.6). The most common histologic type was adenocarcinoma in both sexes. Based on the SEER stage, the distant stage was the most frequent stage (41%), followed by the regional stage (37%). Ulsan (4.31/100,000 for men and 4.09/100,000 forwomen in 2009- 2013) and Gyeongsangnam-do (4.15/100,000 for men and 3.54/100,000 for women) showed the highest GBC incidence, whereas the lowest incidence was observed in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. There were no significant sex differences in the incidence of GBC (femaleto-male incidence rate ratio, 0.96).
Conclusion: The overall incidence of GBC in Korea did not change significantly over the 15-year period. Incidence for men and women was similar. However, geographical variation was found.
Keywords: Epidemiology; Gallbladder neoplasms; Geographic variation; Incidence; Survival.