"中国卫生部８日消息：恶性肿瘤已成为中国城乡居民的首要死因。

    据对３０个城市和７８个农村县死亡原因的统计，２００６年中国城市居民前十位死因分别为：恶性肿瘤、脑血管病、心脏病、呼吸系病、损伤及中毒、内分泌营养和代谢疾病、消化系病、泌尿生殖系病、神经系病、精神障碍，合计占死亡总数的９０．４％。而与２００５年相比，中国城市居民恶性肿瘤的死亡率上升１８．６个百分点。

    农村居民前十位死因分别为：恶性肿瘤、脑血管病、呼吸系病、心脏病、损伤及中毒、消化系病、内分泌营养和代谢疾病、泌尿生殖系病、神经系病、精神障碍，合计占死亡总数的９２．３％。而与２００５年相比，农村居民的恶性肿瘤死亡率上升２３．１个百分点。

新华网"
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This is a classic example of how incorrect information can mislead so many people by multiple uninformed ZTs in the era of internet.

First of all, there is NO death registry in China so nobody knows the true #1 killer in China. Huge numbers of people die there without a doctor’s death certificate to indicate the reason of death. This is especially true in countryside where the majority of China’s population lives. But any reasonale person would agree on an educated guess that among all leathal disease the one has highest prevalence would cause the most death.

Secondly, that data was a survey from those Chinese hospital death statistics where death numbers due to cancer is much much higher than the real world situations. Many many more people die from other diseases just were not recorded but almost all cancer patient were recorded at the time of diagnosis.

Thirdly, you probably could claim the death RATE from cancer is highest. But given the smaller prevalence of cancer, it would be a horrible thing to have cancer as the number 1 killer in China.  Or maybe it is such a good thing to boast to the world that the death numbers from other much much more prevalent diseases such as heart disease, cereberal vascular disease, etc., are at such a low number due to the excellent works done by Chinese medical society (including traditional Chinese medicine). This should be the headline news everywhere and deserves the Noble Prize in my mind. Yet there is not even a single reputable paper published about this. Also please note the claim that "而与２００５年相比，中国城市居民恶性肿瘤的死亡率上升１８．６个百分点" ---- a death rate rise by that much??? or you mean the incidence/newly diagnosed cases ???

Lastly, those “news” especially with a catchy title like the one we are talking about could be widely accepted, although not 
necessarily correct because it alerts and encourages people to live healthier. And people, even those who do the ZT, 
do get attention which could be a good thing. But if you are trying to defend a wrong information using evidence from that 
wrong information, then it will be too obvious. 

"Please give me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference."