Abstract
BACKGROUND: In 2022, esophageal cancer (EC) was the eleventh most frequently diagnosed cancer and the seventh leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Nonetheless, the prevalence and burden of EC in Asian countries have been little studied. This study investigated the prevalence, incidence, and burden of EC in five East Asian countries from 1990 to 2021. METHODS: We retrieved data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 on the prevalence, incidence, mortality, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) associated with EC in five East Asian countries from 1990 to 2021. The epidemiological characteristics of EC were analyzed by joinpoint regression, age-period-cohort analysis, and decomposition analysis. The burden of EC until 2036 was estimated using autoregressive integrated moving average and Bayesian age-period-cohort models. RESULTS: Among these East Asian countries, China had the highest incidence, prevalence, mortality rates, YLLs, YLDs, and DALYs in 1990 and 2021. China and Mongolia exhibited the highest age-standardized incidence rate, age-standardized mortality rate, age-standardized prevalence rate, age-standardized YLDs rate, age-standardized YLLs rate, and age-standardized DALYs rate from 1990 to 2036. The age group with the highest prevalence rate, incidence rate, mortality rate, YLDs rate, YLLs rate, and DALYs rate in these countries was ≥ 55 years. The prevalence and incidence rates in the five countries were influenced by aging and were higher than the global average. CONCLUSIONS: The burden of EC in five East Asian countries was high over the past three decades, particularly among older adults. EC is a significant public health problem in these countries, particularly because of the large population base and aging demographics.