Social reasons lead to high incidence of liver cancer in southeast coastal areas

Through epidemiological surveys and studies, it was found that liver cancer is highly prevalent in my country's southeastern coastal areas, and the social causes of this phenomenon are mainly the following three points.

1. Climate conditions are conducive to aflatoxin contamination

The climate in the southeastern coastal areas of my country is relatively humid and hot, which creates favorable conditions for aflatoxin contamination. Data from epidemiological surveys show that the severity of aflatoxin contamination in the main food rations of residents in these areas is much higher than in other areas. Further testing of the levels of aflatoxin metabolites in the urine of residents in this area or the levels of aflatoxin adducts in the serum found that the level of aflatoxin was significantly positively correlated with the incidence of liver cancer, that is, the higher the level of aflatoxin in the body, the higher the incidence of liver cancer.

2. Long-term drinking of contaminated water

The estuary areas along the southeast coast are the concentrated areas of liver cancer. The rivers in these areas are densely distributed and crisscrossed, which easily causes water pollution. The investigation further found that the incidence of liver cancer is closely related to the different water sources consumed by residents in high-incidence areas of liver cancer. In the same high-incidence areas of liver cancer, the incidence of liver cancer is the highest among residents who drink ditch and pond water for a long time, while the incidence of liver cancer is the lowest among residents who drink deep well water for a long time, and the incidence of liver cancer among residents who drink flowing river water for a long time is between the two.

3. The hepatitis B virus infection rate is higher than the national average

The survey also found that in the southeastern coastal areas, the infection rate of hepatitis B virus is significantly higher than the average level of hepatitis B virus infection in my country, which also leads to the continued high incidence of liver cancer in the future.