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UK Liver Cancer incidence statistics

This page contains liver cancer incidence statistics for the UK with information by sex, by age, trends over time and liver cancer rates worldwide. The ICD code for liver cancer is ICD9 155, ICD10 C22.

Liver cancer incidence by sex

Liver cancer is within the top twenty most common cancers in UK (18th), with over 3,100 new cases diagnosed in 2005 (Table 1.1). From the total 62% of the new cases are diagnosed in males giving a male:female ratio of around 5:3.

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Liver cancer incidence by age

Figure 1.1 shows the age-specific cases and rates for liver cancer in the UK. Very few cases are registered in persons under 50 while around three quarters of cases occur in persons over 65 years old.

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Incidence rates increase steeply with age and the highest rates occur in the oldest age groups. For those aged 80-84 the incidence rate per 100,000 men is 44 whilst for women it is 24.

Liver cancer incidence trends

In Great Britain the age-standardised incidence rates have more than doubled from 1.4 to 3.9 per 100,000 persons between 1975 and 2005 (Figure 1.2).

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The liver cancer incidence trend for the UK has increased from 2.5 to 3.9 per 100,000 persons between 1993 and 2005 (Figure 1.3).

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Liver cancer incidence trends worldwide

Liver cancer is the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third most common cause of death from cancer worldwide. Prognosis for liver cancer is poor so incidence and mortality patterns are very similar.

There is a fourteen fold variation in male incidence rates between the different regions of the world and in women the difference is ten fold (Figure 1.4).

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The highest rates are reported for Mongolia (99 in males and 57 in females) and Mozambique (79 and 42), while the lowest rates are recorded for Lebanon and Algeria at >1. Liver cancer is rare in the UK, male rates rank 140th of the 172 countries worldwide and female rates rank 136th.

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The major risk factors for liver cancer are infection with hepatitis B and C and consumption of foods contaminated with aflatoxin. Hepatitis B is more common and the distribution of this infection worldwide largely explains differences in rates of liver cancer, with the exception of Japan that has high levels of infection with hepatitis C.

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References for liver cancer incidence

1. Office for National Statistics, Cancer Statistics registrations: Registrations of cancer diagnosed in 2005, England. Series MB1 no.36. 2008
2. Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit 2008
3. ISD Online. Information and Statistics Division, NHS Scotland.Accessed 2008
4. Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, Cancer Incidence and Mortality. 2008.
5. Ferlay J, et al., GLOBOCAN 2002. Cancer Incidence, Mortality and Prevalence Worldwide. IARC CancerBase No.5, Version 2.0. IARCPress, Lyon, 2004.

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