The incidence and survival of cervical, ovarian, and endometrial cancer in Korea, 1999-2017: Korea Central Cancer Registry

Abstract

ObjectiveThe three major gynecologic cancers are cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancer. This study aimed to describe the19-year trends and survival rates in cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancer in a Korean female population. MethodsWe searched the Korea Central Cancer Registry to identify patients with gynecologic cancer between 1999 and 2017. Age-standardized rates and annual percent changes were calculated. The relative survival rate (RSR) was reported byhistology, age, and stage for each gynecological cancer. ResultsThe total number of cervical, endometrial, primary peritoneal, ovarian epithelial, fallopian tube (POFT) cancer was134,863, with the number of cases increasing every year: 6,077 in 1999 to 8,011 in 2017. The incidence of cervicalcancer has decreased; however, that of POFT and endometrial cancer has increased. The 5-year RSR of cervical, POFT,and endometrial cancer was reported to be 80.8%, 61.4%, and 88.1%, respectively. In the case of cervical cancer,squamous cell carcinoma showed better survival than other histology (82.8% vs. 73.5%). Furthermore, in the case ofendometrial cancer, endometrioid histology had substantially better 5-year RSR than the others (93.2% vs. 76.5%). Contrastingly, in the case of ovarian cancer, serous carcinoma had worse 5-year RSR than other types of histology. ConclusionThe incidence rates for gynecologic cancers increased from 2005 to 2017, with an annual increase of 2.76 per yearuntil 2017. Endometrial cancer had the highest RSR, while ovarian cancer had the lowest. Active cancer screening andthe introduction of effective treatments might have contributed to the improved RSRs of gynecologic cancers.