Objective   To compare the disease burden of gastric cancer among Chinese residents in 1990 and 2017 for providing references to decision making on gastric cancer prevention and health management.

  Methods   Using the data of 1990 and 2017 from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017, we analyzed the changes in years of life lost (YLL), years living with disability (YLD) and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) due to gastric cancer in Chinese population between 1990 and 2017.

  Results   In contrast with those in 1990, higher gastric cancer-related YLL (7 648 000 person-years PYs vs. 7 340 000 PYs), YLD ( 167 000 PYs vs. 74 000 PYs), standardized YLD rate (8.5/100 000 vs. 8.4/100 000) and DALY (7 815 000 PYs vs. 7 415000 PYs) were observed in 2017 in Chinese population, with the increasing percentage of 4.2%, 125.7%, 1.2%, and 5.4%; but the standardized YLL rate declined from 779/100 000 to 383.2/100 000 and the standardized DALY rate declined from 787.3/100 000 to 391.7/100 000. There were gender, age, and region differences in the changes between 1990 and 2017 for disease burden due to gastric cancer in the population; in the males, the YLD increased by 152.1%, higher than 76.9% in the females; while the standardized YLL and DALY rate decreased by 46.4% and 45.8% in the males, both lower than in female population (58.5% and 58.0%); the YLL, standardized YLD rate, and DALY of the males increased by 13.7%, 11.6%, and 15.1% but those of the females decreased by 12.7%, 19.0%, and 11.9%, respectively; the DALY decreased in people aged < 50 and 55 – 59 years but increased in the people of other age groups, with the highest increase of 133.5% in the people ≥ 80 years; the standardized DALY rate decreased among all age groups and the decrease percentage (75.7%) was the highest for the people aged 20 – 24 years; the highest increase of DALY (86.2%) was observed in the population of Shaanxi province whereas the greatest decrease of DALY (25.1%) was in the population of Tibet Autonomous Region; the standardized DALY rate decreased in all 33 provincial-level administrative divisions, with the greatest decrease (66.7%) in Beijing and the least decrease (14.7%) in Shaanxi province.

  Conclusion   The disease burden of gastric cancer in Chinese population decreased in 2017 compared to that in 1990 but the decrease differed by gender and region and the disease burden is still at a relatively high level.