To examine the global disease burden and country-specific trends of penile cancer incidence by age group, and investigate its associations with several factors.
Global Cancer Observatory database was retrieved for the penile cancer incidence. The 10-year cancer incidence rates were collected from the Cancer Incidence in Five Continents Plus. The country-specific data were extracted from the WHO Global Health Observatory and Global Burden of Disease databases for conducting risk factors analysis. The penile cancer incidence was presented using age-standardized rates. Its associations with various factors were examined by linear regression, while the incidence trend was estimated using joinpoint regression and presented as average annual percentage change with 95% confidence intervals in different age groups.
There were an estimated 36,068 new cases of penile cancer in 2020. There was a considerable geographical disparity in the disease burden of penile cancer, with South America reporting the highest incidence. Overall, alcohol drinking, HIV infection, and unsafe sex were positively associated with a higher penile cancer incidence, while circumcision was found to be a protective factor. There has been a mixed trend in penile cancer incidence overall, but an increasing trend was found among younger males.
There was a global variation in the penile cancer burden associated with prevalence of alcohol drinking, HIV infection, unsafe sex, and circumcision. The increasing penile cancer incidence in the younger population is worrying and calls for early detection and preventive interventions.
BJU international. 2023 Nov 12 [Epub ahead of print]
Junjie Huang, Sze Chai Chan, Wing Sze Pang, Xianjing Liu, Lin Zhang, Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno, Wanghong Xu, Zhi-Jie Zheng, Anthony Chi-Fai Ng, Andrea Necchi, Philippe E Spiess, Jeremy Yuen-Chun Teoh, Martin Cs Wong, Global Society of Rare Genitourinary Tumors (GSRGT)
Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China., Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands., Suzhou Industrial Park Monash Research Institute of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China., Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom., School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China., Department of Global Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China., S.H. Ho Urology Centre, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China., Department of Oncology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy., Department of Genitourinary Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, United States.