Trends of incidence of colorectal cancer in Iran, 2003–2010

Introductionand and Background: As the third leadingreason of death, cancers have a special place in the Iranianhealth system. This study to investigate the incidencetrends of colorectal cancer in Iran from 2003 to 2010.Methods: The recorded data for colorectal cancer cases inNational Cancer Registry System were obtained from theCenter for Disease Control & Management of Ministry ofHealth. The codes from 18 to 21 among cancers were selectedfor colon and rectum cancers. The significance of incidencerate trends was tested through Poisson regression.Results: In this study, 38,712 cases of colorectal cancerwere observed for 8 years in Iran, which increased from2882 cases in 2003 to 6,215 cases in 2010. Gender ratioof men to women was 1.26. Significant increasingtrends of colorectal cancer were observed during the periodof the study. The incidence rate increased from 6.22per 100,000 persons in 2003 to 9.99 in 2010 in males(p<0.001), and it increased from 6.74 per 100,000 personsin 2003 to 8.69 in 2010 in females (p<0.001).Conclusion: Colorectal cancer has an increasing trend inIran. The rising trend of colorectal cancer as well as othertypes of cancers is partially due to improvement in cancerregistry systems in the early years of registry. Furthermore,westernized lifestyle and an increase in environmentalrisks could explain this rising trend