Esophageal malignancy: A growing concern

Table 1 Top 10 leading causes of death in China vs the United States

Rank	China			United States
	Diseases	Deaths	Death rate (%)	Diseases	Deaths	Death rate (%)
1	Stroke	2 125 802	23.92	Coronary heart disease	445 864	21.42
2	Lung disease	1 287 089	14.48	Alzheimer/dementia	172 765	8.30
3	Coronary heart disease	1 040 692	11.71	Lung cancers	165 402	7.95
4	Lung cancers	460 856	5.19	Stroke	146 664	7.05
5	Liver cancer	380 491	4.28	Lung disease	130 808	6.29
6	Stomach cancer	354 829	3.99	Diabetes mellitus	75 280	3.62
7	Road traffic accidents	292 481	3.29	Colorectal cancers	62 592	3.01
8	Esophageal cancer	212 537	2.39	Hypertension	62 156	2.99
9	Other injuries	209 836	2.36	Pneumonia	57 722	2.77
10	Hypertension	205 689	2.31	Kidney disease	50 889	2.45

Esophageal cancer is the No. 8 killer in China, while in the United States, it is No. 29. Here the death rate is the percentage of the total deaths nationwide. Data from World Health Organization, World Bank and National Institute of Health.