Global Incidence, Risk Factors, and Temporal Trends of Adrenal Cancer: a Systematic Analysis of Cancer Registries

Objectives: Adrenal gland cancer (AGC) is a rare cancer with a poor prognosis. Studies on this cancer have been limited. This study, for the first time, aims to analyse the global disease burden and trends of adrenal gland cancer in country level and examine lifestyle and socioeconomic risk factors to generate hypotheses.

Method: The Global Cancer Observatory (GLOBOCAN) database was used to extract the incidence rate of adrenal gland cancer in 2020. Age-standardized rates (ASR) of AGC incidence and lifestyle/metabolic risk factor prevalence were obtained from databases. Linear regression and Joinpoint regression were used to assess associations with risk factors and Average Annual Percentage Change (AAPC) of AGC incidence.

Result: Globally, there were an estimated 16,961 new AGC cases in 2020 (ASR: 0.14 per 100,000 persons). Higher disease burden was observed mainly in European regions. ASRs were comparable between sexes (males: 0.16; females: 0.14). The higher ASR was observed among the older population aged (50-74) with an ASR is 0.31 compared to the younger population aged (15-49) with ASR of 0.07. Higher AGC incidence was associated with higher Human Development Index (HDI), Gross domestic product (GDP), and lifestyle-related factors such as physical inactivity, obesity, hypertension, and lipid disorder (β = 0.005 to 0.052).

Conclusions: The overall incidence trend showed a decrease, with 3 countries reporting significant decreases and 1 country reporting a significant increase. Similar patterns were observed by sex and age group, except for an overall increase among the younger population.