Abstract

Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers and the second most common cause of cancer mortality in Western societies. Population screening has been introduced as a means to reducing its impact; however, there are little or no data on the incidence of this disorder in the different populations that comprise the Canadian population. To retrospectively determine the incidence of colorectal cancer in selected racial populations of British Columbia. The British Columbia Cancer Agency database was used to retrieve information on the incidence of cancers occurring during the years 1994 to 1998, with the British Columbia and national population censuses used to derive the age-specific and age-standardized incidence rates of colorectal cancers. Surnames were used to identify the origin of individuals from South Asian and Chinese backgrounds. For the Caucasian Canadian (C) population, the weighted age-standardized incidence rate ranged from 51.99 per 100,000 in 1995, to 57.68 per 100,000 in 1998. For Chinese Canadians (CC), the range was 39.2 per 100,000 in 1996, to 31.2 per 100,000 in 1998. For South Asian Canadians (SAC), the range was 7.40 per 100,000 in 1994, to 24.85 per 100,000 in 1998. The RR for the development of cancer were significantly different when comparing C versus CC (RR 1.9; 95% CI 1.58 to 2.31; P<0.001), C versus SAC (RR 7.1; 95% CI 4.20 to 12.0; P<0.0001) and CC versus SAC (RR 3.7; 95% CI 2.14 to 6.5; P<0.0001). Significant differences in the incidence of colorectal cancers have been defined for the first time in various racial subgroups in British Columbia. This finding may have important implications for both screening and understanding of the environmental factors influencing the biology of these lesions. Because SAC have among the highest incidence of atherosclerotic heart disease and diabetes, it suggests that unidentified genetic and/or environmental protective factors are capable of countering the traditionally recognized risk of high saturated fat intake for the development of colorectal cancer.

Highlights

  • Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers and the second most common cause of cancer mortality in Western societies

  • The present study had three main objectives: to determine absolute and relative incidence rates of colorectal cancer among three broad ethnic groups (South Asian Canadians [SAC], Chinese Canadians [CC] and Caucasian Canadians [C]); to analyze and compare case fatality rates in these groups; and to compare the clinical characteristics of colorectal cancer. This may provide preliminary data for the examination of causative or protective factors associated with this disease

  • Incidence data were calculated for colorectal cancer as follows: Age-specific incidence rates (ASR) for SAC, CC and C separately, were calculated by using the number of cases in a single year as the numerator and the total age-specific population for the relevant ethnic group in British Columbia as the denominator

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Summary

BACKGROUND

Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers and the second most common cause of cancer mortality in Western societies. The present study had three main objectives: to determine absolute and relative incidence rates of colorectal cancer among three broad ethnic groups (South Asian Canadians [SAC], Chinese Canadians [CC] and Caucasian Canadians [C]); to analyze and compare case fatality rates in these groups; and to compare the clinical characteristics of colorectal cancer This may provide preliminary data for the examination of causative or protective factors associated with this disease. Incidence data were calculated for colorectal cancer as follows: Age-specific incidence rates (ASR) for SAC, CC and C separately, were calculated by using the number of cases in a single year as the numerator and the total age-specific population for the relevant ethnic group in British Columbia as the denominator. Relative incidence rates were calculated using the C population as the control, with the uncorrected c2 test (using Yates correction) used to estimate the significance of relative incidence rates for each age group (Table 2)

Colon cancer in British Columbia
CC versus SAC
Findings
South Asian Canadian
Full Text
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