Clinical characteristics, medical service utilization, and expenditure for colorectal cancer in China, 2005 to 2014: Overall design and results from a multicenter retrospective epidemiologic survey

Abstract

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in China, however, publicly available, descriptive information on the clinical epidemiology of CRC is limited. Methods: Patients diagnosed with primary CRC during 2005 through 2014 were sampled from 13 tertiary hospitals in 9 provinces across China. Data related to sociodemographic characteristics, the use of diagnostic technology, treatment adoption, and expenditure were extracted from individual medical records. Results: In the full cohort of 8465 patients, the mean ± SD age at diagnosis was 59.3 ± 12.8 years, 57.2% were men, and 58.7% had rectal cancer. On average, 14.4% of patients were diagnosed with stage IV disease, and this proportion increased from 13.5% in 2005 to 20.5% in 2014 (P value for trend