Original Article
Copyright ©2010 Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 28, 2010; 16(8): 960-965
Published online Feb 28, 2010. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v16.i8.960
Colorectal cancer in Guangdong Province of China: A demographic and anatomic survey
An-Gao Xu, Zhi-Jin Yu, Bo Jiang, Xin-Ying Wang, Xu-Hui Zhong, Ji-Hong Liu, Qiu-Yun Lou, Ai-Hua Gan
An-Gao Xu, Zhi-Jin Yu, Xu-Hui Zhong, Ji-Hong Liu, Qiu-Yun Lou, Ai-Hua Gan, Department of Gastroenterology, Huizhou Municipal Central Hospital, Huizhou 516001, Guangdong Province, China
Bo Jiang, Xin-Ying Wang, Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Xu AG and Yu ZJ provided vital reagents, designed the study and finished all the statistics analysis; Jiang B and Wang XY collected the data of patients in Nanfang Hospital and wrote the manuscript; Zhong XH collected the data of patients in Meizhou People’s Hospital; Liu JH collected the data of patients in North-Guangdong People’s Hospital of Shaoguan; Lou QY collected the information of patients in Huizhou Central People’s Hospital; Gan AH collected the information of patients in the Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical College.
Correspondence to: Dr. An-Gao Xu, Department of Gastroenterology, Huizhou Municipal Central Hospital, Huizhou 516001, Guangdong Province, China. angao62@21cn.com
Telephone: +86-752-2288288 Fax: +86-752-2288288
Received: November 3, 2009
Revised: December 7, 2009
Accepted: December 14, 2009
Published online: February 28, 2010
Abstract

AIM: To determine the basic demographic features of colorectal cancer (CRC) in five hospitals located in four different areas of Guangdong Province, China.

METHODS: A review of patient records from 1986 to 2006 from five hospitals was conducted. Patient data was obtained, including age, gender, location of lesions, staging and histological type of CRC. The Chi-square test was used to assess differences in rates and a significance level of 0.05 was used. Univariate comparisons were made via Fisher’s exact tests.

RESULTS: Analysis was carried out on 8172 CRC patents, 6.1% (499/8172) of the patients were aged ≤ 30 years. The peak incidence was between the ages 61-70 years (27.8%). The mean age at CRC diagnosis increased from 52 years (1986-1988) to 60 years (2004-2006) and the proportion of young CRC patients decreased from 8.0% to 5.9% over the same period. Of 8172 lesions, 4434 (54.3%) were located in rectum and 3738 (45.7%) in colon. The incidence of rectal cancer decreased significantly from 59.4% (1989-1991) to 51.8% (2004-2006) and right sided colon cancer increased from 40.6% to 48.2%. The mean age, anatomic distribution, histological type and differentiation degree were significantly different among the four geographical areas (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The hospitalization rate for CRC has increased in Guangdong in recent years. The characteristics of CRC from the five hospitals located in the four different areas of Guangdong Province are also different. Further studies are needed to assess more recent trend in the incidence and prevalence of CRC as well as the respective roles of genetic and environmental factors in CRC.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Survey; Characteristics; Differentiation