Temporal Epidemiological Assessment of Colorectal Cancer Incidence and Mortality in East Kazakhstan, 2004-2013

Colorectal cancer incidence and mortality in Kazakhstan are relatively high but exact statistics have hithertobeen lacking and trends over time are unclear. The present study was therefore undertaken to retrospectively assessdata for East Kazakhstan, accessed from the central registration office, for the period 2004-2013. Approximateage standardized data for incidence and mortality were generated and compared across age groups, gender andyear. It was determined that during the studied period 3,417 new cases of colorectal cancer were registered and2,259 died of this pathology. Average cancer cancer incidence and mortality over the ten years were 24.1/105and 15.9/105 respectively, and the overall ratio of mortality/incidence (M/I) was 0.69:1 (range 0.58-0.73). Bothincidence and mortality tended to remain constant in both males and females. The male to female ratios also didnot significantly vary over time but a trend for improvement of the mortality to incidence ratio was observed,especially for rectum. Whether this might be related to screening remains unclear. These preliminary dataindicate that whereas colorectal cancer continues to be important, change in environmental factors are nothaving a great impact on incidence in East Kazakhstan.