Urban–rural disparity in colorectal cancer incidence and increasing trend in relation to socioeconomic development and urbanization in China

OBJECTIVE: To study urban–rural disparity in colorectal cancer incidence and the increasing trend in relation to rapid socioeconomic development and urbanization in China. METHODS: We compared the age-standardized incidence rates (ASRs) of colorectal cancer between rural and urban areas in China in 2012 and analyzed the trend in Shexian County for 2000–2015 using population-based tumor registration data collected in Shijiazhuang city (2012) and Shexian County (2000–2015). RESULTS: The ASRs of colorectal cancer in Shijiazhuang (urban) were considerably higher than in Shexian (rural) in both men (22.8 vs. 11.9/100,000) and women (15.0 vs. 9.3/100,000). The difference was similar to that between countries with high and medium human development indices according to GLOBOCAN 2012. In trend analysis, the biennial ASR in Shexian increased from 6.6 in 2000–2001 to 15.9/100,000 in 2014–2015 in men (averaged biennial percent change (ABPC) = +6.0%), and from 4.0 to 11.7/100,000 in women (ABPC=+5.5%). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of colorectal cancer in China is rising in parallel with socioeconomic development and urbanization. Integrated efforts should be made to reduce the incidences of overweight and obesity in society to help prevent this increase.