Background: Kidney cancer is the ninth and fourteenth common cancer cases in men and women, respectively. Also, it is the sixteenth cause of death from cancer in the world, and is known as the most deadly cancer of the urinary tract. Given the importance of information about the incidence, mortality and risk factors in prevention programs, the aim of this review was to investigate the incidence, mortality, and risk factors for kidney cancer in the world.
Materials and Methods: This review study was conducted on published English research by January 2017 with the search in PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases. The search strategy included the key words “kidney cancer”, “epidemiology”, “incidence”, “mortality” and “risk factors”. Studies related to incidence, mortality, and causes of kidney cancer risk were studied and included.
Results: Five countries with the highest incidence of kidney cancer in the world included China, the United States, Russia, Germany and Japan, respectively. The standardized incidence of kidney cancer in the world was 4.4 per 100,000 (6 per 100,000 in men and 3 per 100,000 in women). The five countries with the highest mortality rates were China, the United States, Russia, Japan and Germany, respectively. In 2012, the standardized age-related mortality rate for kidney cancer was 1.8 per 100,000 (2.5 per 100,000 in men and 1.2 per 100,000 in women). The most important risk factors for kidney cancer were smoking, occupational exposure, cystic disease, heredity, obesity and high blood pressure.
Conclusions: The findings of this study showed that the incidence of kidney cancer varies considerably according to the geographical area. Considering preventable risk factors and the effective time of diagnosis, disease prevention, training programs, good life promotion policies, timely diagnosis and treatment are appropriate for reducing this cancer.