The spatiotemporal associations between esophageal and gastric cancers provide evidence for its joint endoscopic screening in China - a population-based study

Sep 21, 2026

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Spatiotemporal epidemiological evidence for joint endoscopic screening of esophageal cancer and gastric cancer remains limited. This study identifies combined high-risk regions for both cancers and determines optimal areas for joint versus separate endoscopic screening. Incidence associations between esophageal cancer and gastric cancer trends were analyzed across Chinese cancer registry areas from 2006 to 2016 using spatiotemporal statistical methods. Results show declining national incidence with strong temporal correlation and distinct geographic homogeneity and heterogeneity, leading to seven combined risk regions and 33 priority high-risk areas for joint screening.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

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Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Keywords

Li etal. BMC Medicine (2024) 22:364 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-024-03594-7](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-024-03594-7) BMC Medicine RESEARCH Open Access The spatiotemporal associations between esophageal and gastric cancers provide evidence for its joint endoscopic screening in China: a population-based study Peng Li1,2, Xin Qi2, Ruhai Bai3, Mei Yang1, Jing Jing4, Ruyi Xia2, Jizhao Wang1, Guangjian Zhang1* and Guihua Zhuang2,5* Abstract Background The spatiotemporal epidemiological evidence supporting joint endoscopic screening for esophageal cancer (EC) and gastric cancer (GC) remains limited. This study aims to identify combined high-risk regions for EC and GC and determine optimal areas for joint and separate endoscopic screening. Methods We analyzed the association of incidence trends between EC and GC in cancer registry areas across China from 2006 to 2016 using spatiotemporal statistical methods. Based on these analyses, we divided different combined risk regions for EC and GC to implement joint endoscopic screening. Results From 2006 to 2016, national incidence trends for both EC and GC showed a decline, with an average annual percentage change of-3.15 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -5.33 to-0 . 92) for EC and-3.78 (95% CI: -4.98 to-2 . 56) for GC. A grey comprehensive correlation analysis revealed a strong temporal association between the incidence trends of EC and GC, with correlations of 79 . 00%(95% CI: 77.85 to 80 . 14) in males and 77. 62%(95% CI: 76.50 to 78. 73) in females. Geographic patterns of EC and GC varied, demonstrating both homogeneity and heterogeneity across different regions. The cancer registry areas were classified into seven distinct combined risk regions, with 33 areas identified as high-risk for both EC and GC, highlighting these regions as priorities for joint endoscopic screening. Conclusion This study demonstrates a significant spatiotemporal association between EC and GC. The identified combined risk regions provide a valuable basis for optimizing joint endoscopic screening strategies for these cancers. Keywords Esophageal cancer, Gastric cancer, Spatiotemporal association, Endoscopic screening, China *Correspondence: Guihua Zhuang [zhuanggh@mail.xjtu.edu.cn](zhuanggh@mail.xjtu.edu.cn)[ ](zhuanggh@mail.xjtu.edu.cn)Guangjian Zhang [michael8039@xjtu.edu.cn](michael8039@xjtu.edu.cn) Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)[.](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.) Li etal. BMC Medicine (2024) 22:364 Background Upper gastrointestinal cancer (UGIC), including esophageal cancer (EC) and gastric cancer (GC), impose a significant global burden [1]. In 2022, there were 511,054 new cases of EC and 968,764 new cases of GC worldwide, with China contributing to 37.02% of EC cases and 43.83% of GC cases, respectively [2, 3]. Consequently, Chi

FAQs

What gap does this study address regarding joint endoscopic screening for EC and GC?

The study targets the limited spatiotemporal epidemiological evidence available to support joint endoscopic screening for esophageal cancer and gastric cancer.

How were associations between EC and GC incidence trends evaluated?

Incidence trends between EC and GC across China’s cancer registry areas from 2006 to 2016 were analyzed using spatiotemporal statistical methods.

What did the study find about temporal and geographic patterns of EC and GC?

National incidence trends for both cancers declined, and a strong temporal association was observed between EC and GC trends. Geographic patterns varied, showing both homogeneity and heterogeneity across regions.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Theodore