Objective: To understand the nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) incidence and pathological changes in Zhongshan city, during 1970 - 2007.
Methods: Data on NPC in Zhongshan during 1970 - 2007 was from the Zhongshan Cancer Registry system. Indices as incident numbers, crude incidence rates, age-adjusted incidence rates, incident pathological proportion and trend etc. were calculated and analyzed.
Results: The NPC world-adjusted incidence rates on males and females were relatively stable as 27.54/10(5) and 11.28/10(5) respectively. Non-keratinizing carcinoma accounted for 84.57 percent of all the new NPC cases while Keratinizing carcinoma only accounted for 5.81 percent. The proportion of pathological types of cancers had not been obviously changed in Zhongshan during 1970 - 2007.
Conclusion: Although relatively stable on the trends of NPC incidence in Zhongshan during 1970 - 2007, it was still higher than data from the world or the nation.