OBJECTIVETo analyze the mortality distribution characteristics and epidemiological trend of lung cancer in 2004 - 2005 in China.

METHODSA total of 142 660 482 person years (72 970 241 person years in male, 69 690 241 person years in female) was covered in the Third National Retrospective Sampling Survey of Death Causes in China, 2004 - 2005. All death records of cancer of trachea, bronchus and lung were extracted. According to the different variations such as gender, urban or rural areas and three territory regions-Eastern, Central and Western China for lung cancer deaths, crude, age-adjusted, area-adjusted death rate, the constitute proportion to all cancer deaths, age-standardized death rate by Chinese standard population and by world standard population and rank of cancer-specific mortality were calculated. The statistic indexes of mortality were compared with that of previous retrospective death surveys in 1973 - 1975 and 1990 - 1992.

RESULTSIn the National Death Survey 2004 - 2005, there were 43 993 deaths caused by lung cancer with crude death rate of 30.84/100 000, age-standardized death rate by Chinese standard population of 20.24/100 000 and 27.62/100 000 by world standard population, accounted for 22.70% of total cancer deaths (193 841 cases). There were a total of 30 167 cancer deaths in male with crude death rate of 41.34/100 000 and 13 826 in female with crude death rate of 19.84/100 000. Lung cancer mortality was increased with age. In urban areas, the lung cancer was ranked the first cancer death causes with crude death rate of 40.98/100 000 (19 628/47 899 806), accounted for 27.29% of all cancer deaths. While in rural areas, the lung cancer was the second cancer death following liver cancer with crude death rate of 25.71/100 000 (24 365/94 760 676), accounted for 19.99% of all cancer deaths (121 905 cases). There were different death rates by different location division. Lung cancer crude death rate in east was the highest with rate of 37.85/100 000 (19 893/52 556 694) and in west was the lowest with rate of 21.76/100 000(8774/40 322 563). Crude death rate of lung cancer increased by 75.83% compared with the second survey (crude death rate was 17.54/100 000) in 1990 - 1992, increased by 464.84% compared with the first survey (crude death rate was 5.46/100 000) in 1973 - 1975, showing a significant uptrend.

CONCLUSIONLung cancer is the most important cancer affecting the health of Chinese urban residents. The mortality has been increasing significantly.