Colorectal cancer incidence rates have increased around 10 percent since 1990, an analysis by United European Gastroenterology reveals.
The analysis is part of a study published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, which was the first to provide worldwide estimates of the burden, epidemiological factors and risk factors for a number of gastrointestinal diseases.
What you should know:
1. CRC and pancreatic cancer cases both increased. The number of pancreatic cancer cases increased 130 percent since 1990. Mortality rates, too, have increased. More patients died from pancreatic cancer in 2017 than in 1990.
2. CRC rates increased 9.5 percent globally, and the disease remains the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. However, age-standardized mortality rates have dropped by 13.5 percent. Researchers attribute the drop to an increase in CRC screening tests.
3. Almost half of the world's GI-related cancer cases occur in East Asia. Researcher Reza Malekzadeh, MD, commented on the issue, saying, "Beyond the current decline in incidence and death rates, a decrease in the absolute number of cases and deaths will be possible if the burden in east Asia, where currently almost half of the cases and deaths occur, is further reduced."
Read more of the CRC findings here.