OBJECTIVEBased on the registered esophageal cancer data from 1998 to 2007, to analyze the incidence of esophageal cancer during the period and then to predict its trend between year 2008 and 2015.

METHODSThe incidence data of esophageal cancer between 1998 and 2007 were sorted from National Cancer Registry Database. Data from forty selected registries were qualified and recruited in the study, including 86 427 cases in total, covering 446 734 668 person years. Crude incidence rates were calculated by area and gender. The standardized incidence rate was adjusted by World Segi's population composition. JoinPoint software was applied to analyze the 10 years' incidence trend and calculated the annual percentage change, while Age-Period-Cohort Bayesian Model was used to fit the data and predict the incidence between 2008 and 2015.

RESULTSBetween 1998 and 2007, the crude incidence rates among males and females in urban areas were separately 16.58/100 000 (28 207/170 131 309) and 7.14/100 000 (11 761/164 830 893), with standardized rates at 12.06/100 000 and 4.55/100 000, respectively. In rural areas, the crude incidence rates and the standardized rates were separately 51.98/100 000 (29 303/56 377 236) and 47.18/100 000 among males, and 30.97/100 000 (17 156/55 395 230) and 25.30/100 000 among females. During the ten years, the crude incidence trend of esophageal cancer among urban females decreased from 10.29/100 000 (1115/10 838 355) in 1998 to 6.29/100 000 (1387/22 057 787) in 2007. However, the crude incidence rate among rural males increased from 47.69/100 000 (2062/4 323 628) to 54.80/100 000 (4207/7 677 484) in the same period. And the rate among rural females and urban males did not change obviously. After adjusting population structure, in urban areas, the male incidence rate decreased by 2.1% annually and female incidence rate dropped by 7.5% annually. In rural areas, the female incidence rate fell by 1.3% annually, while the male incidence rate remained the same without significant changes. The prediction model estimated that there would be 134 474 new esophageal cancer cases diagnosed in year 2015, including 104 400 males and 30 074 females, while 52 506 cases came from urban areas and the other 81 968 cases were from rural areas.

CONCLUSIONThe esophageal cancer incidence showed a downtrend, especially among urban females. By year 2015, the threat of esophageal cancer will be alleviated.