Evaluation of demographic, pathologic, and clinical characteristics and overall survival of patients with colon cancer in Northern Iran (Mazandaran Province) during 2012-2019

AIM: The present study aimed at evaluating the demographic, pathological and clinical characteristics of patients with colon cancer and also the survival rate and its related factors. BACKGROUND: Cancer is the most important barrier to increasing life expectancy in the world. Furthermore, colon cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer in Iran. METHODS: In this descriptive-analytical study, 219 patients with colon cancer were investigated. Data were analyzed through descriptive and univariate methods using R software. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log-rank test were used to evaluate the survival rate of the patients. RESULTS: In the present study, 25% of patients were below 50 years of age. A family history of cancer was positive in 30% of the patients. According to the clinical symptoms of the patients, rectorrhagia was higher in patients with sigmoid tumor site, abdominal pain was higher in patients with transverse and ascending tumor sites, and anemia was higher in patients with ascending and caecum tumor sites (p< 0.05). The mean life expectancy of the patients was 53.71±2.07 months. Three-year, five-year and seven-year survival rates were 70, 49, and 37 %, respectively. CONCLUSION: Half of the patients were diagnosed at advanced stage and the mean survival time at advanced stage was approximately four years. One-third of the patients had local recurrence. It is recommended that patients refer to specialists at specified time intervals for timely diagnosis of the disease and prevention of its recurrence. Providing effective training for people in order for them to acquire more knowledge, and performing screening tests will lead to early diagnosis and lower mortality.