Abstract
Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most frequent malignancy of blood, and information on disease burden of MM is limited in developing countries. We aimed to estimate the prevalence and incidence of MM in China. We used data from the national urban employee and urban resident basic medical insurance from 2012 to 2016 in China. MM cases were based on the primary diagnosis (International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code, ICD for oncology, or text of diagnosis) of patients. The crude prevalence and incidence were 6.88 per 100,000 population (95% CI, 5.75–8.00) and 1.60 per 100,000 person-years (1.28–1.92), respectively. The standardized prevalence and incidence were 5.68 (5.64–5.72) and 1.15 (1.11–1.19), respectively. Overall, the rates were higher in males compared with females for prevalence (7.89 vs. 5.79, P < 0.05) and incidence (1.84 vs. 1.30, P < 0.05). Both rates increased with age, and the mean age (SD) of MM patients was 57.9 (14.4) years. Prevalence peaked between 55 and 74 years old for both genders. The incidence in women aged 55–59 had a significantly high incidence of 5.53 (4.98–6.11). The prevalence and incidence were significantly lower than those in North America, Australia, and Western Europe but were in the same range as those in Japan or Korea. MM should be one of the cancers in the spotlight from both medical and socioeconomic perspectives in low-resource but populous countries because of the incidence of more elderly MM patients in the next decade. Further research is warranted to examine the potential pathophysiologic mechanism.
Highlights
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a neoplastic plasma cell disorder characterized by proliferation of clonal plasma cells in the bone marrow, monoclonal protein in the blood or urine, and associated organ dysfunction [1]
The data in the current study were from the national medical insurance database between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2016 with a nationally representative population covering ∼0.51 billion residents in 23 provinces
The basic population structure of Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) and Urban Residence Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI) was significantly different in gender and age distribution
Summary
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a neoplastic plasma cell disorder characterized by proliferation of clonal plasma cells in the bone marrow, monoclonal protein in the blood or urine, and associated organ dysfunction [1]. Three high-incidence areas around the world are North America, Australia, Multiple Myeloma in China and Western Europe, with incidences ranging from 3 to 6 per 100,000 person-years, as well as the 5-year prevalence ranging from 7 to 14 per 100,000 population [3,4,5]. The incidences reported by Japan and Korean studies were 2.0 and 1.5 per 100,000 person-years, respectively, and the corresponding 5-year prevalences were 5.4 and 3.9 per 100,000 population, respectively [4, 7]. Three consecutive studies conducted in Taiwan of China implied a number close to those in Japan or Korea [8,9,10], while the results from mainland China displayed much lower rates [4, 11]. No further epidemiological studies were available to estimate the rates among different gender, age, and geographic groups in mainland China
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