Study on the geographic distribution of liver cancer mortality and HbsAg carrier rate in China

Objective The present study was conducted to depict the geographic distribution of liver cancer mortality and the HBsAg carrier rate in China (Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan Area not included) and to get insight into the relationship between liver cancer mortality and the HBsAg carrier rate. Methods The surveillance data on the mortality from the National Disease Surveillance Information Management System and the data from the national hepatitis seroepidemiologic survey were used to depict the geographic maps of liver cancer mortality in the national disease surveillance sites of and of the HBsAg carrier rate in individual provinces, with the geographic distribution of the two rates compared. The correlation between the two rates in individual provinces was tested. Liver cancer mortality by sex in the surveillance sites was depicted to reveal the characteristics of the distribution of liver cancer mortality and the HBsAg carrier rate by sex. Results The liver cancer mortality and the HBsAg carrier rate in China were both higher among males than among females. The mortality of liver cancer was high in the Western China and low in the western China, I.e a high incidence in the eastern costal belt and a low incidence in the Eastern China (northeastern and southeastern regions). The HBsAg carrier rate was high in the coastal belt in the southeastern region, Tibet and Ningxia Province. There was a similarity in the geographic distribution of the two conditions. Statistical analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between the mortality of liver cancer and the HBsAg carrier rate. Conclusion There is a correlation between the mortality of liver cancer and the HBsAg carrier rate in China.