ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Hepato Pancreatic Biliary Cancers
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1676636
Global burden and cross-country inequalities of gallbladder and biliary tract cancer in adults aged 45 years and older from 1990 to 2021: Population-based study
Provisionally accepted
- Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Gallbladder and biliary tract cancers (GBTC) represent a global health challenge, especially among adults aged 45 and older. This study examines the trends of GBTC, explores regional disparities, risk factors, and the impact of the Socio-Demographic Index (SDI). Data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 were extracted, and key metrics like age-standardized incidence rates (ASIR), prevalence rates (ASPR), mortality rates (ASMR), Age-standardized disability-adjusted life years rates (ASDR) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were assessed. Study found that in 2021, the ASIR was 9.04 per 100,000, with a decrease of 0.453% annually, while ASPR increased by 0.240%. The ASDR and ASMR also showed declines of 1.080% and 0.903%, respectively. Results revealed that regions with high SDI experienced increasing incidence due to epidemiological changes, whereas low-SDI regions were more impacted by population aging. Frontier analysis demonstrated that high-SDI countries had a greater burden, but disparities burden widened over time between high and low-SDI regions. High body mass index (BMI) as a significant contributor to DALYs and mortality, particularly in high-income regions like North America. Notably, individuals aged 50–54 had the highest contributions from high BMI, with 13.08% of DALYs and 13.06% of mortality. In conclusion, while the global burden of GBTC has decreased, significant regional disparities persist, with high BMI and aging populations as key drivers. Public health strategies should target reducing these disparities, especially in low-SDI regions, and focus on addressing high BMI to alleviate the burden of GBTC.
Keywords: Gallbladder and biliary tract cancers, Global burden of disease, Risk factors, Decomposition analyses, Frontier analysis
Received: 30 Jul 2025; Accepted: 24 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lei, Fu, Zhang, Yang, Hu and Ji. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhili Ji, anzhenjzl@mail.ccmu.edu.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.