Comparison of risk factors between colon cancer and rectum cancer in a single medical center hospital, Taiwan

Introduction Colorectal cancer (CRC) is rapidly increasing in developed countries. In Taiwan, the incidence rate of CRC has increased during the past decade, but the 5-year survival has remained at approximately 63%. In this study, we sought to determine the 5-year survival rate of patients diagnosed with colon and rectum cancer and to determine factors affecting survival. Material and methods All patients from the Taiwan Cancer Database of the medical center hospital in North Taiwan between 2007 and 2013 were identified. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier curves, and differences between the curves were analyzed using the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to analyze survival by each variable. Results A total of 869 patients were included: 554 (63.8%) patients had colon cancer and 315 (36.2%) had rectum cancer. The mean survival time was 71.27 ±1.27 months (colon group: 71.90 ±1.58 months; rectum group: 67.88 ±1.95 months). There was no significant difference (p = 0.493) between patients who had colon or rectum cancer. The forward stepwise Cox regression analysis results indicated that perineural invasion, distant metastasis, age, pathological differentiation grade, and obstruction were statistically significant for patients who had CRC, colon cancer or rectum cancer. Conclusions The long-term survival from CRC, colon cancer and rectum cancer remains promising, as 68.66%, 69.11% and 67.90% of patients are alive 5 years after being diagnosed, respectively. Perineural invasion was found to be an important factor related to the survival of patients who have CRC. Thus, early detection of CRC may help improve survival.