UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

Objective: To develop and apply the intervention strategies for risk reduction of liver cancer using results from the community-based cohort study in Korea where liver cancer mortality is one of the highest in the world (ASR per 100,000, 34.6 for men; and 8.6 for women.).

Methods: A community-based cancer free cohort was established to identify the risk factors for cancer and their prevalence in three rural areas of Korea. The cohort includes 9,318 subjects (male: 3,737, female: 5,581) aged over 30 years who participated in interview survey and health examination between 1993 and 2005. Incident and mortality cases were identified using data from Korea National Statistical Office and Korean Central Cancer Registry respectively.

Results: In this area, positive rate of HBsAg, Anti-HCV, and C. sinensis eggs were relatively higher than national average, and it coincided with the increasing incidence and mortality rate of liver cancer. From these finding, education to prevent risk factors was launched for residents, and, until 2003, a close examination with ultra-sonography and computed tomography were applied to 1,141 subjects who were defined as the high risk group of liver cancer, and praziquantel was taken by the C. sinensis positive cases. The cases identified as liver disease were recommended to visit hospital, and the other subjects at high risk have been followed up with the specific concern. With the continuous effort to establish cohort and subsequent follow up, these will be an initial step to develop regular intervention strategies to find and to intervene the risks to be control.