Occupational cancer surveillance in China

Abstract

Occupational cancer causes a large number of deaths every year, posing a great threat to public health in China and abroad. Occupational cancer surveillance can help to dynamically monitor and predict the trend of cancer occurrence and provide basic reference for the formulation of occupational cancer prevention and treatment measures. Occupational cancer surveillance started late in China relative to developed western countries, but formed its own characteristics through years of development of legislation and institutional reform, and large-scale epidemiological investigations and laboratory research. Occupational cancer surveillance is currently a part of cancer surveillance system of the National Cancer Center, as well as an integral part of occupational disease surveillance in China. It generally includes not only cancer incidence surveillance, but also cancer-related occupational risk factor surveillance, and surveillance of effects of occupational cancer prevention, treatment, and intervention. The methods of occupational cancer surveillance in China include passive monitoring, active monitoring, and sentinel monitoring. These methods have their respective advantages and disadvantages and would be best to be combined in practice. The rapid development of economy and technology, and continuous advancement of hospital informatization, especially the establishment and application of big data on occupational cancer, may point out directions for the development of occupational cancer surveillance in the future. Occupational cancer prevention and control in China still has a long way to go and the destination is to achieve primary prevention for occupational cancer.

Keywords

• occupational cancer
• surveillance
• China
• occupational disease
• monitoring