Comparative analysis of the trends in laryngeal cancer disease burden between China and the world from 1990 to 2021

Laryngeal cancer remains an important public health concern, with substantial variation in disease burden across regions, age groups, and sexes. This study aimed to characterize temporal trends in the burden of laryngeal cancer in China from 1990 to 2021 and to compare age- and sex-specific patterns of incidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) with global trends, using data from the Global Burden of Disease 1990 to 2021 study. Joinpoint regression was applied to calculate average annual percentage changes and corresponding 95% confidence intervals to quantify long-term trends. During the study period, China’s age-standardized prevalence rate declined slightly from 1.82 to 1.789 per 100,000, while the global prevalence rate decreased more markedly from 3.072 to 2.293 per 100,000. In contrast, the age-standardized incidence rate in China increased from 7.83 to 9.864 per 100,000, whereas a global decline was observed from 15.274 to 12.558 per 100,000. Age-standardized mortality and DALY rates in China decreased substantially, from 40.372 to 22.726 per 100,000 and from 1.59 to 0.937 per 100,000, respectively, paralleling but remaining lower than global reductions. The average annual percentage changes in China for DALYs, mortality, incidence, and prevalence were −1.89, −1.73, −0.10, and 0.74, respectively, compared with global values of −1.60, −1.47, −0.95, and −0.65. Notably, males consistently exhibited a significantly higher burden than females across all indicators. These findings highlight divergent trends between China and the global population, particularly the rising incidence in China despite declining mortality and DALYs, underscoring the need to strengthen early screening and prevention strategies for laryngeal cancer, especially among high-risk male populations.