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Review
. 2019 Jul;17(3):317-329.
doi: 10.5217/ir.2019.00021. Epub 2019 May 20.

Prevalence and risk factors of colorectal cancer in Asia

Martin Cs Wong  1 , Hanyue Ding  1 , Jingxuan Wang  1 , Paul Sf Chan  1 , Junjie Huang  1
Affiliations
Review

Prevalence and risk factors of colorectal cancer in Asia

Martin Cs Wong et al. Intest Res. 2019 Jul.

Abstract

Globally, colorectal cancer (CRC) is a substantial public health burden, and it is increasingly affecting populations in Asian countries. The overall prevalence of CRC is reported to be low in Asia when compared with that in Western nations, yet it had the highest number of prevalent cases. This review described the prevalence of CRC in Asia according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer from World Health Organization (WHO) database and summarized its major risk factors. Non-modifiable factors include genetic factors, ethnicity, age, gender, family history and body height; smoking, alcohol drinking, weight, Westernized diet, physical inactivity, chronic diseases and microbiota were involved in environmental factors. These risk factors were separately discussed in this review according to published literature from Asian countries. CRC screening has been playing an important role in reducing its disease burden. Some recommendations on its screening practices have been formulated in guidelines for Asia Pacific countries.

Keywords: Asia; Colorectal neoplasms; Epidemiology; Risk.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Estimated 5-year cancer prevalent cases in 2018 (top 10). There were 4,789,635 patients (2,595,326 men and 2,194,309 women) who had been diagnosed as having colorectal cancer within the previous 5 years. Data source: International Agency for Research on Cancer, GLOBOCAN 2018, World Health Organization (WHO) [4].
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
The 5-year prevalence of colorectal cancer in Asia, 2018. China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Turkey had higher 5-year prevalence rates than that in others area (≥46.5/100,000). Data source: International Agency for Research on Cancer, GLOBOCAN 2018, World Health Organization (WHO) [4].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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