Impact of Gender, Race/ethnicity, and Age on Incidence Rates of Two Leading Gastrointestinal Cancers in the US

Abstract

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) and pancreatic cancer are the two leading gastrointestinal malignancies in the US. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of gender, race/ethnicity and age on the incidence of CRC and pancreatic cancer from 2000-2013 using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The trends for these two cancers from 1975-2013 were also investigated. Methods: Patients diagnosed with CRC and pancreatic cancer from 2000-2013 were identified from the SEER Registry. We retrospectively evaluated age-specific, sex-specific, and race/ethnicity variations in incidence rates during 2000-2013 for people above the age of 20. For this analysis, we used ethnic groups consisting of white, black, Asian, American Indian, and Hispanic. We also calculated trends in percent change (PC) for the entire period between 1975-2013. The ethnic groups used in this analysis consisted of black, white, and “other,” where “other” included American Indians, Alaskans and Asian/Pacific Islanders. Results: A total of 579,029 people with CRC, and 150,929 people with pancreatic cancer were identified. When men and women were stratified by age, the incidence rate of both cancers increased with age among all race/ethnic groups. All incidence rates were per 100,000/year. For CRC, black Americans had the highest incidence rate of 93.1 and 70.5, for men and women respectively from 2000-2013. All ethnic groups showed decreasing trends in 2000-2013 for both men and women with CRC. Both black and “other” men had a PC of 21.2, and 16.2, respectively showing increasing incidence rates from 1975-1999. Black women had a PC of 6.4 demonstrating increasing incidence rates from 1975-1999 but a PC of -33.7 showing decreasing incidence rates from 2000-2013.Table 1: Trends in Incidence Rates for Colorectal Cancer from 1975-2013Table 2: Trends in Incidence Rates for Pancreatic Cancer from 1975-2013Black men and women had the highest incidence rates of pancreatic cancer at 24.0 and 20.1, respectively from 2000-2013. There is an increasing trend seen for both men and women in all ethnic groups for pancreatic cancer from 2000-2013. Conclusion: Among CRC and pancreatic cancer in the US, increasing age is associated with increasing incidence of each of these cancers. Black men and women have the highest incidence rates for CRC and pancreatic cancer. This may support interventions to inform certain race/ethnic populations about the importance of screening and prevention for CRC and pancreatic cancer, two leading causes of gastrointestinal malignancies earlier in life.