Incidence, Prevalence, Mortality, and Disability‐Adjusted Life Years Due to Cancer Among Adolescents Aged 10–19 Years in Iran, 1990–2023: A Trend Analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study
Habibollah Azarbakhsh, Andishe Hamedi, Sanaz Amiri, Seyed Parsa Dehghani, Rozhan Khezri, Fatemeh RezaeiABSTRACT
Background and Aims
Cancer remains a major global public health challenge; however, epidemiological data on the cancer burden among Iranian adolescents remain limited. This study aimed to assess incidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability‐adjusted life years (DALYs) due to cancer among individuals aged 10–19 years in Iran from 1990 to 2023.
Methods
This trend analysis used data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 study. Extracted indicators included incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and DALYs, expressed as age‐standardized rates per 100,000 populations. Temporal trends were evaluated using joinpoints regression, and average annual percent changes (AAPCs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.
Results
During 1990–2023, 52,942 cancer deaths occurred among Iranian adolescents, including 26,662 (50.4%) in females. Leukemia, brain and central nervous system cancers, and other malignant neoplasms were the leading causes of death. Incidence showed a small but statistically significant increase (AAPC, 0.1; 95% CI, 0.0–0.2 for both sexes), whereas mortality declined (AAPC, −1.2; 95% CI, −1.3 to −1.1), as did DALY rates (AAPC, −1.1; 95% CI, −1.2 to −1.0). In contrast, YLD rates increased substantially (AAPC, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.9–2.1). Non‐Hodgkin lymphoma showed increasing trends in mortality and DALYs.
Conclusion
Although mortality and the overall cancer burden among Iranian adolescents have declined significantly, the concurrent increase in incidence and, particularly, YLDs suggests an epidemiological shift toward a greater nonfatal burden. These findings support the need for comprehensive survivorship care and stronger cancer registration and surveillance systems to address emerging challenges in adolescent oncology.