An epidemiological profile of colorectal cancer patients diagnosed at a single cancer center in Costa Rica from 2018 to 2022.

Abstract

e22523 Background: According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, in 2020 there were 1,257 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) in Costa Rica. Despite Costa Rica having universal health coverage, approximately 20% of patients seek care outside of the public system. This growing population may be overlooked when creating registries or research. The aim of this study is to present a five-year epidemiological profile of patients with CRC diagnosed by the only private cancer center in Costa Rica: Centro de Cáncer y Hematología del Hospital Metropolitano. Methods: A retrospective review of all the patients with biopsy proven CRC diagnosis from January 2018 until November 2022 at the center was completed. Data was extracted from pathology database that included both endoscopic and surgical samples. Variables of interest included year of diagnosis, gender, age, pathological staging, and tumor site. Variables were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 253 patients (n = 253) were identified. When stratified by year, there were 16 patients (6.3%) diagnosed in 2018, 59 (23.3%) in 2020, and 67 (26.5%) in 2022. There were 129 female patients (51.0%) and 124 male patients (49.0%). Age was normally distributed with a mean of 65 ± 14 years and a range of 29-92. 33 patients (13.0%) were younger than 50 years old, from which 19 (7.5%) were male and 14 (5.5%) female. According to staging, 46 patients (18.2%) had localized disease, 34 (13.4%) had regional disease, and 12 (4.7%) had distant. 161 patients (63.6%) were categorized as unknown since the staging was not available. As per tumor location, 68 samples (26.9%) were right sided tumors, which included cecum and ascending colon; 13 samples (5.1%) were transverse; 89 samples (35.2%) were left colon, including descending and sigmoid colon; and 65 samples (25.7%) were from rectum. 18 samples (7.1%) were categorized as unknown. Conclusions: This study complements existing literature regarding CRC epidemiology and contributes to the emerging research being done by developing countries in Central America. The results match international trends and they suggest a yearly growth of patients being diagnosed outside of the national public system. Additionally, real-world data like this is necessary when considering screening guidelines for CRC by national authorities. Future directions are to follow the cohort for an eventual five-year mortality study, include molecular tests to build a genetic profile, and pursue a collaboration with Costa Rican public centers to determine the disease’s behavior in a national scope.