International epidemiology of liver cancer: geographical distribution, secular trends and predicting the future

Background: Liver cancer (LC) is ranked seventh common cancer in terms of the incidence; and third in terms of the mortality in the world. The aim of this study was to investigate the international distribution of the incidence and mortality of LC in 2012 based on various socio-economic and political divisions in the world. Material and methods: This study was conducted with the use of the incidence and mortality cancer data from GLOBOCAN Project in 2012. The Age-Standardized Incidence Rate (ASIR) and Age Standardized Mortality Rate (ASMR) of LC were expressed per 100,000 people. In the current report, we used Pearson correlation method to assess the correlation between ASIR and ASMR. Statistical significance was considered to be P<0.05. All P-values reported in this study are two-sided. Also, statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (Version 16.0, SPSS Inc.). Results: The highest ASIR and ASMR of LC occurred in Asia (ASIR=13.3 and ASMR=12.6), less developed regions (ASIR=12 and ASMR=11.5), and Western Pacific Region of WHO (ASIR=20.4 and ASMR=19.1), and those regions with medium HDI (ASIR=14.6 and ASMR=14.1). Furthermore, the lowest ASIR and ASMR of LC occurred in Europe (ASIR=4.3 and ASMR=3.9), the more developed regions (ASIR=5.4 and ASMR=4.6), the EURO region (ASIR=4.3 and ASMR=4), and regions with high HDI (ASIR=3.8 and ASMR=4.1). Conclusion: The highest ASIR and ASMR of LC occurred in regions with a medium HDI, in WPRO, less developed regions of the world and Asia. The incidence of LC had a very gentle upward trend in most regions of the world from 1975 to 2010