The distribution of cancer within the large bowel

Abstract

The distribution of cancer of the anatomical sub-sites cf the colon and rectctm in Alameda County (California), Bombay. Denmark, Kingston and St .4ndrew (Jamaica), Miyagi Prefkture (Japan), New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, Saskatchewan (Canada)

Occupational physical activity and risk for cancer of the colon and rectum in Sweden among men and women by anatomic subsite

“…Cancer of the distal colon, a predominant cancer in the large bowel in men (de Jong, Day et al 1972;Iacopetta 2002), was associated with a stronger effect for the descending than the sigmoid colon in our study, consistent with an early study (Garabrant, Peters et al 1984) but in contrast with other studies finding the highest risk in the transverse colon (Gerhardsson, Norell et al 1986), the ascending colon (Vena, Graham et al 1985) or in all parts of the colon (Kato, Tominaga et al 1990). Borader subsite analysis in a cohort of male smokers revealed a significant inverse association with occupational activity in the distal but not the proximal colon (Colbert, Hartman et al 2001) similar to the non-significant inverse association of a recent study {Zhang, 2006 #78} where the contrast was found in another study (Thune and Lund 1996).…”

“…Contrary to men, we found a more pronounced inverse association of physical activity in the proximal colon, a leading cancer in the large bowel among women (de Jong, Day et al 1972;Iacopetta 2002), with a statistically significant association only in transverse colon. Although, to our knowledge there has been no study investigating the possible association between physical activity and cancer of the colon by comparable fine subsites, assessment of the association among women by broader subsite categories in one study has shown a result similar to our study with a stronger inverse association between leisure time physical activity for the proximal than the distal colon (Thune and Lund 1996).…”

Are there two sides to colorectal cancer?

“…37 Approximately 60% of CRC in high-incidence populations arise in the left colon, whereas in low-incidence regions there is a predominance of right-sided cases. 38 The influence of gender and age on the subsite distribution of CRC was reported as early as 30 years ago 39 and has been confirmed by many others since. In one of the best recent studies based upon examination of almost 10,000 CRC cases in the state of Florida, 40 a progressive decrease in age was observed for caecal (median age 73.7 years) through to rectal (69.4 years) carcinoma patients.…”

Different age and sex relationship for cancer of subsites of the large bowel

“…Incidence rates are high in the caecum and ascending colon (International Classification of Disease, ICD-153.0), somewhat lower in the transverse colon (ICD-153.1) and lower even in the descending colon (ICD-153.2) to be followed by an abrupt rise in the sigmoid colon 3) and rectum (De Jong et al, 1972;Jensen, 1983). Another well-known characteristic of large bowel cancer in affluent western countries is the sex ratio of approximately unity for colon cancer and the male predominance for rectum cancer (Haenszel & Correa, 1971).…”

“…With few exceptions (De Jong et al, 1972;McMichael & Potter, 1983) little attention has been paid to differences in age-specific sex ratios for various parts of the large bowel. This paper draws attention to a gradual, evolutionary pattern from the ascending colon to the rectum, which must be considered when studying the aetiology of large bowel cancer.…”