Liver cancer - UK incidence statistics

Liver cancer is within the top twenty most common cancers in UK (18th), with around 3,400 new cases diagnosed in 2007 ( Table 1.1). From the total 63% of the new cases are diagnosed in males giving a male:female ratio of around 5:3. 1-4

It has been estimated that the lifetime risk of developing liver cancer is 1 in 180 for men and 1 in 292 for women in the UK. These were calculated on February 2009 using incidence and mortality data for 2001-2005. 6

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Figure 1.1 shows the age-specific cases and rates for liver cancer in the UK. Around 220 cases of liver cancer are registered in persons under 50 while around 7 in 10 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 85 and over the incidence rate per 100,000 men is 43 whilst for women it is 25.

In Great Britain the age-standardised incidence rates have tripled from 1.4 to 4.2 per 100,000 persons between 1975 and 2007 (Figure 1.2).

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The liver cancer incidence trend for the UK has increased by 70% from 2.4 to 4.1 per 100,000 persons between 1993 and 2007 (Figure 1.3).

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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). 5

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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.

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.