Continuing Climb in Rates of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma: An Update

To the Editor. —The incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma in the United States has been rising since the 1970s.¹While accounting for 16% of all esophageal cancers among white men in the mid 1970s,²adenocarcinomas comprised about one third by the mid 1980s.¹Herein, we report that the percentage approached 50% in 1988 to 1990. The annual age-adjusted esophageal adenocarcinoma incidence rate per 100 000 white men during this period was 2.5, the same as the age-adjusted rate for squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. The rate of esophageal adenocarcinoma in 1988 to 1990 was three times that in 1976 to 1978, while the rate of squamous cell carcinoma declined by 23%. The data derive from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program of cancer registries covering approximately 10% of the US population.¹,² Although the rates of esophageal adenocarcinoma are highest among white men, the rising incidence