Noteworthy Numbers Colorectal Cancer

As part of the effort to prevent colon cancer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains the Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP), which provides funding in 25 states, as well as to 4 Native American tribal organizations. The goal is to increase colorectal cancer screening among men and women aged 50 years and older from an estimated 64% to 80%. Between 2009 and 2013, the CRCCP helped fund approximately 50,000 screenings, and 141 colorectal cancers and 6838 cases of precancerous adenomatous polyps were diagnosed.^2,3

Using CRC data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry, researchers at the MD Anderson Cancer Center evaluated 64,157 patients diagnosed with stage IV colon or rectal cancer. From 1988 to 2010 inclusive, surgery rates decreased from 74.5% to 57.4%. The median survival rate improved from 8.6% in 1988 to 17.8% in 2009. The shift away from surgery began in 2001 as effective treatment options, including chemotherapy and biological therapy, became available.⁴

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report that clinical trial patients with newly diagnosed advanced CRC who had high levels of vitamin D in their blood before chemotherapy and treatment with targeted drugs survived longer, on average, than patients with lower levels. Vitamin D levels were measured in 1043 patients when they enrolled in a phase 3 trial of 3 different drug combinations. The average level for all patients in the trial was 17.2 ng/mL (range: 8 ng/mL-27.5 ng/mL). Patients with the highest levels survived 33% longer than those with the lowest levels (32.6 months vs 24.5 months).⁵

In a study to assess the risk of CRC associated with type 2 diabetes, 300,039 patients with diabetes were compared with a matched number of people without diabetes. After a median follow-up of 4.5 years, 2759 CRC cases were found among the patients with diabetes, representing a moderate 1.3-fold increased risk of CRC compared with nondiabetic subjects. Among diabetic patients, a trend of increased CRC risk was seen with duration of obesity ≥4 years.⁶

 

Sources
1. http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/
content/@editorial/documents/
document/acspc-044514.pdf.
2. http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/crccp/.
3. http://m.cdc.gov/en/HealthSafetyTopics/Diseases Conditions/Cancer/Related/CRCCP.
4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25588105.
5. http://www.sciencedaily.com/
releases/2015/01/150113111119.htm.
6. http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2014/12/18/dc14-1175.abstract.