In this brief report, we offer a concise overview on current cancer epidemiology garnered from the official databases of World Health Organization and American Cancer Society and provide recent information on frequency, mortality, and survival expectancy of the 15 leading types of cancers worldwide. Overall, cancer poses the highest clinical, social, and economic burden in terms of cause-specific Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) among all human diseases. The overall 0-74 years risk of developing cancer is 20.2% (22.4% in men and 18.2% in women, respectively). A total number of 18 million new cases have been diagnosed in 2018, the most frequent of which are lung (2.09 million cases), breast (2.09 million cases), and prostate (1.28 million cases) cancers. Beside sex-specific malignancies, the ratio of frequency between men and women is >1 for all cancers, except thyroid (i.e., 0.30). As concerns mortality, cancer is the second worldwide cause of death (8.97 million deaths) after ischemic heart disease, but will likely become the first in 2060 (~18.63 million deaths). Lung, liver, and stomach are the three most deadly cancers in the general population, while lung and breast cancers are the leading causes of cancer related-mortality in men and women, respectively. Prostate and thyroid cancers have the best prognosis, with 5-year survival ~100%, while esophagus, liver, and especially pancreas cancers have the worst prognosis, typically <20% at 5 years. We hope that this report will provide fertile ground for addressing health-care interventions aimed at preventing, diagnosing, and managing cancer around the world.

Remarkable advances in instrument technology, automation and computer science have greatly simplified many aspects of previously tedious tasks in laboratory diagnostics, creating a greater volume of routine work, and significantly improving the quality of results of laboratory testing. Following the development and successful implementation of high-quality analytical standards, analytical errors are no longer the main factor influencing the reliability and clinical utilization of laboratory diagnostics. Therefore, additional sources of variation in the entire laboratory testing process should become the focus for further and necessary quality improvements. Errors occurring within the extra-analytical phases are still the prevailing source of concern. Accordingly, lack of standardized procedures for sample collection, including patient preparation, specimen acquisition, handling and storage, account for up to 93% of the errors currently encountered within the entire diagnostic process. The profound awareness that complete elimination of laboratory testing errors is unrealistic, especially those relating to extra-analytical phases that are harder to control, highlights the importance of good laboratory practice and compliance with the new accreditation standards, which encompass the adoption of suitable strategies for error prevention, tracking and reduction, including process redesign, the use of extra-analytical specifications and improved communication among caregivers.

Colorectal cancer is a type of gastrointestinal malignancy originating from either the colon or rectum. In this short report we provide a concise update on recent colorectal cancer statistics, especially concerning frequency, mortality, life expectancy and risk factors. Overall, colorectal cancer is the third more frequent malignant disease around the world (1.85 million of new cases/years; 10.2% of total malignancies), with 2.27% cumulative risk of onset between 0-74 years. The age-standardized rate increases by over 10-fold before the age of 50 up to ≥85 years, whilst men have ~50% enhanced risk compared to women (the 0-74 years risk is 2.75% in men and 1.83% in women, respectively). Although colorectal cancer screening has contributed to slightly reduce the number of diagnoses at advanced stages, most cases are only identified after symptoms onset. The number of worldwide deaths for colorectal cancer has been estimated at 0.88 million in 2018, representing ~1.4% of all-cause and ~8.9% of cancer-related deaths, with over 30% increase occurred during the past 15 years and a further 25% growth expected by the year 2030. The cumulative risk of dying for colorectal cancer is 0.92% between 0-74 years (1.14% in men and 0.72% in women, respectively). The 5-year cumulative survival is 64-67%, being 89-90% in patients with localized cancer, 70-71% in those with regional cancer, decreasing to 14-15% in those with distant cancer. The leading risk factors include familial history, pre-cancerous conditions, tall stature, physical inactivity, overweight, large intake of alcoholic beverages, high consumption of red or processed meat, as well as modest intake of dairy products and foods containing wholegrains or dietary fibre. The association between colorectal cancer and human development index suggests that reinforcement or timely establishment of preventive measures and accurate screening programs may be advisable, especially in countries undergoing considerable societal and economic changes.

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To the Editor, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an infectious outbreak caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), 1 has now progressed to global pandemic. 2 Besides the compelling need to understand the novel biological pathways underlying the virulence and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 in humans to enable the development of appropriate interventions and therapies, 3,4 the notable difference in mortality rates between Asian and European populations is one of the most significant issues demanding the attention of biologists, epidemiologists, and clinicians around the world. According to the most recent World Health Organization statistics (last updated April 2, 2020), the COVID-19 case fatality rate in Italy (12 430 of 105 792; 11.75%) is considerably higher than in China (3321 of 82 631; 4.02%). 2 Without adjusting for a multitude of confounders, this would translate into an over threefold higher risk of death in Italy than in China (crude odds ratio [OR], 3.18; 95% CI, 3.06-3.31; P < .001).