NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Dec 08 - The incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma has increased markedly over the past few decades in England and Wales, according to findings published in the November issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
"International variation in the incidence of esophageal cancer is wide," Dr. Come Lepage, of INSERM U 866, Dijon, France, and colleagues write. "The epidemiology of esophageal cancer has changed substantially over the last 30 years."
The researchers examined trends in incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma in England and Wales from 1971 to 2001. The incidence rates of the disease were calculated by age, sex, and socioeconomic category, by 5-year period, and by birth cohort.
A total of 43,753 esophageal adenocarcinomas were included in the analysis. The authors report that there was a rapid and consistent increase in the incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma in both men and women. The incidence increased by an average of 39.6% every 5 years in men, and 37.5% every 5 years in women. Since 1971, the incidence of the disease has increased about three-fold in both sexes.
The incidence has increased in all socioeconomic categories since 1986, including the most affluent groups.
"The cumulative risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma over the age range 15 to 74 years has increased strikingly in successive birth cohorts," Dr. Lepage's team reports. "It rose from 0.1% for men born around 1900 to 1.1% for those born around 1940, an increase of more than 10-fold," they note. "The corresponding values in women were 0.03% and 0.14%, a nearly five-fold increase."
The investigators suggest that the increase in incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma may be partly explained by the increasing prevalence of obesity. Apart from that, "etiological studies are required to explain the rapid increase of this lethal cancer."
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