Disability-adjusted life years(DALYs) has been increasingly used to estimate burden of disease worldwide. By giving a particular attention to DALYs, the objectives of the study were to review various data sources and to conduct an extended estimation on the burden of cancer in China. Based on the publications released by the GLOBOCAN 2008 program and the Global Burden of Disease 2010(GBD 2010) program, we reviewed the methodological information and gathered DALY data associated with burden of cancer in China, and then we extracted and summarized the data and conducted an extended analysis. From a methodological perspective, both of the programs applied the utility weights mainly from populations other than China. The data from GLOBOCAN 2008 suggests that liver cancer has replaced lung cancer and became the leading cancer in males in China when using DALY rather than mortality rate as the indicator (6.3 million and 5.4 million DALYs, respectively); although the ranking is different, data from the GBD 2010 project shows DALYs caused by liver cancer is comparable to that associated with lung cancer(7.9 million and 8.0 million, respectively). The years lived with disability(YLDs) comprised 26% and 12% of the total DALYs associated with breast cancer and colorectal cancer in China. Both projects suggest that liver cancer might have become or is becoming the leading contributor to males' DALYs in China. There are indications that, along with economic development, YLD will play a more important role in estimation of burden of cancer in China; it suggests that China should consider introducing DALY into the estimation system as early as possible. It also suggests that research on quality of life and utility associated with the major cancers in China need to be systematically conducted to facilitate more accurate DALY estimation.

Neoplasms; China; DALYs; Burden of disease; Population