Digestive Cancers in China Paper Example

Introduction

Digestive cancers (cancers of the stomach, esophagus, pancreas, and other organs of the digestive system) are world renown leading causes of disorders deaths and disabilities. Stomach cancer and oesophageal cancer are among the most prevalent and deadly cancers in the world with a mortality rate of over 1.5 million people every year between them (Mokart et al., 2016). The story is no different in China where oesophageal and stomach cancers are still among the leaders regarding incidence and mortality. For example, the most recent data from the Chinese cancer registry places stomach cancer as the second most common cancer in China with oesophageal cancer coming in at fifth. With regards to mortality, stomach and oesophageal cancer rank third and fourth respectively (Chen et al., 2016).

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Digestive cancers have a long history in China with the country consistently posting incidence and mortality rates significantly above the world average. Data from 1973 and 1975 surveys of the Chinese population, 850 million then, oesophageal and stomach cancers were the leading causes of cancer mortality in China representing 23.03% and 21.80% of cancer deaths respectively (Chen et al., 2016). Additionally, the age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) with regards to the world population was 23.86/105 for stomach cancer, a significantly high level, and 23.40/105, a world high. About two decades later in 1990-1992, an in the second national retrospective sampling survey, it found that stomach cancer was still leading in terms of cancer related deaths with esophageal cancer dropping to fourth. The two cancers accounted for 21.3% and 15.4% of the total cancer deaths (Chen et al., 2016). According to data from the 2004-2005 survey, the ASMR of stomach cancer was 22.14/105 while that of oesophageal cancer was 13.73/105. Male mortalities were also found to be double the rate of female mortalities (Chen et al., 2016).

The relationship between Digestive Cancers and the Environment of China

In the late 1970s, China held economic reforms which led to rapid industrialization across the country. This rapid increase in the number of industries led to a deterioration of the quality of water in the country's rivers and lakes. The use of chemical fertilizers in farms combined with industrial wastewater dumping by manufacturers rendered the water in most catchment areas unfit for human consumption (Lora-Wainwright et al., 2012).

According to data from China's water monitoring system, more than 60% of river water was not safe for human consumption in the 1990s. This posed a great risk to most farmers in rural areas who heavily rely on river water for drinking. Consequently, the country started experiencing a rise in cancer rates in the, especially in rural areas (Lora-Wainwright et al., 2012). Digestive cancers accounted for a huge chunk of these cancer incidences. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2002) statistics, digestive cancers accounted for 11%, and approximately 1 million of the total annual deaths in China. Consumption of polluted water is one of the major risk factors of digestive cancers. Additionally, there have also been media reports of incidences of polluted natural water from industrial processes causing cancer outbreaks.

Objectives of the study

While the evidence of a connection between water contamination and the increased digestive cancer rates in China is undeniable, there has been a lack of systematic analysis of trends. The result of this is that the true cost of water pollution in China remains unknown (World Bank, 2006) and therefore the government is left with no basis to enforce higher environmental standards for the country's industrial sector. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate the health consequences of industrialization in China, specifically by proving that he increased water pollution led to increased digestive cancer rates.

Methodology

This mainly being majorly analytical study, most of the data used was quantitative. The statistics of interest were mainly, digestive cancer incidence and mortality rates before and after the industrial boom experienced in China in the 1970s. The data was sourced from academic journals and governmental websites. Additionally, extensive internet research was conducted to get more information about the issue.

The analysis of incidence and mortality patterns of digestive cancers in China is by China's Disease Surveillance Point System (DSP). The DSP is a set of one hundred and forty-five locations selected to create a nationally representative sample of the Chinese population and includes sites of varying wealth and urbanization. The DSP keeps a record of all the deaths within its population and as a result of the careful selection of the sites, generates a yearly sample of the deaths reflecting patterns across the country (Yang et al., 2005). This study focuses on DSP data recorded at sites between 1991 and 2000, approximately 500,000 deaths, and census data by age and sex to convert the deaths into digestive cancer death rates. Table 1 shows a summary of cause-specific mortality rates during the sample period. The analysis uses data for water pollution levels from 2004 and mortality rates by cause and locality between 1991 and 2000. Table 2 presents a summary of the measures of water quality at DSP locations as well as other features of the decedents at the points. The features analyzed are split between DSP sites around rivers with low water quality measures and those with high water quality measures. From the data, other observable characteristics of the decedents (such as education) are quite similar indicating there is no evident relationship between the quality of water and observable features. While unobservable features may also influence the water quality, the similarity found within observable dimensions indicates that the influence of unobservable features may be insignificant.

Data and analysis

The main results of this study are presented in table 3, where I analyze models of water quality and digestive cancer rates, given in logs:

ln(DeathRatei) = v0+ v1 water quality + GXi + ei

By estimating the models, where the logs of death due to digestive cancer in location i is a function of the quality of water measurements and demographic characteristics (Xi) of the people living in the area. The water quality is measured on a scale of 1 to 6 where 1 indicates the cleanest water while 6 indicates the most polluted water. From the first regression, by examining the partial relation between water quality and digestive cancer, I found that increasing the water quality measure by one led to an increase of digestive cancer rate by 12.2%.

Using a different set of specifications, the paper assesses the effect of the quality of water on the same dependent variables, time using this time using more controls for other factors that may influence digestive cancer. The controls introduced are for whether the DSP site is urban or rural, and the average education for people above 20 within site and every site is weighted based on its total population. The results from these controls are lower as they indicate a 9.7% increase of digestive cancer rate for every increase in the water quality measure by 1. This, however, comes as no surprise since the coefficients were not dramatically changed by introducing the controls and the results are consistent with table 2 which indicates that the water quality measure is not significantly influenced by the observable characteristics of a site. Table 3 also demonstrates a positive and statistically significant correlation between the quality of air and digestive cancer rates as increasing the particulate index variable by 1% induces a 0.23% increase in rates of digestive cancer.

Conclusion

While the rapid industrialization in China following the economic reforms of the 1970s led to massive economic growth, it also brought with it another major challenge, that of environmental pollution. Industrial waste has contaminated most of China's natural water sources as well as the air rendering Chinese people vulnerable to many diseases associated with environmental pollution, digestive cancers being among the most prevalent and the most lethal of them. The objective of this paper was to determine the real impact of water pollution on digestive cancer rates. By sampling data from DSP sites across China, it was found that a degradation of the water quality by 1 point on the water quality measure scale resulted in a 12.2% increase of cancer rates in a DSP site, quite a significant increase. Further, even after introducing controls to account for any other factors influencing digestive cancer rates, the influence of the quality of water on digestive cancer rates remains at a high of 9.7% for every increase or decrease by one on the water quality scale. The findings of this study are compelling evidence that the correlation between digestive cancer rates and water quality is heavily influenced by environmental factors, and especially water quality.

Future Research

Following the findings of this study, it is of the essence to continue researching on the water pollution situation in Chinese rivers in order to develop appropriate measures against water pollution .that will be both acceptable and viable. In so doing, digestive cancer rates and other health conditions associated with water pollution which have been a great menace to the Chinese economy can be greatly alleviated.

References

Mokart, D., Giaoui, E., Barbier, L., Lambert, J., Sannini, A., Chow-Chine, L., ... & Bisbal, M. (2016). Postoperative sepsis in cancer patients undergoing major elective digestive surgery is associated with increased long-term mortality. Journal of critical care, 31(1), 48-53.

Chen, W., Zheng, R., Zuo, T., Zeng, H., Zhang, S., & He, J. (2016). National cancer incidence and mortality in China, 2012. Chinese Journal of Cancer Research, 28(1), 1.

Yang, G., Hu, J., Rao, K. Q., Ma, J., Rao, C., & Lopez, A. D. (2005). Mortality registration and surveillance in China: history, current situation, and challenges. Population health metrics, 3(1), 3.

Lora-Wainwright, A., Zhang, Y., Wu, Y., & Van Rooij, B. (2012). Learning to live with pollution: the making of environmental subjects in a Chinese industrialized village. The China Journal, (68), 106-124.

World Bank, "Cost of Pollution in China: Economic Estimates of Physical Damages." Conference Edition (Washington, DC: World Bank,2007).

World Bank, "Cost of Pollution in China: Economic Estimates of Physical Damages." Conference Edition (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007).