Goals: To assess esophageal cancer (EC) burdens among older adults aged 60+ from 1990 to 2021. Background: With the aging global population, EC in elderly presents a significant health challenge. Study: 2021 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data were used to calculate age-standardized rates (ASRs) for incidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Joinpoint regression was used to calculate the average annual percentage change (AAPC) to assess temporal trends. Pearson’s correlation analysis investigated the relationship between socio-demographic index (SDI) and the male-to-female ratios of ASRs. Results: In 2021, there were 421,336 incident cases, 655,313 prevalent cases, 410,902 deaths, and 8,059,156 DALYs due to EC in older adults globally, doubling since 1990. The age-standardized incidence rate, age-standardized mortality rate, and age-standardized DALYs rate exhibited decline from 1990 to 2021, with respective AAPCs of –0.62 (95% CI: –0.76 to –0.48), –0.9 (95% CI: –1.05 to –0.75), and –1.11 (95% CI: –1.25 to –0.97), while age-standardized prevalence rate (AAPC: –0.04, 95% CI: –0.16 to 0.09) remained stable. Western Sub-Saharan Africa experienced the steepest rise in ASRs from 1990 to 2021, while East Asia recorded the highest ASRs in 2021. The male-to-female ratios for all ARSs increased globally from 1990 to 2021, with a significantly positive correlation between the gender ratios and SDI. Conclusion: EC poses a growing challenge for elderly populations, with clear geographic and gender disparities. Targeted interventions are necessary to mitigate the increasing burden in older adults.
Yang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.