VANCOUVER—The incidence, prevalence and mortality associated with colorectal cancer all declined in the United States from 1990 to 2019, but the degree of decline was not evenly distributed by region or state, according to the Global Burden of Disease database.
The overall mortality reduction was 26%—from 20 per 100,000 to 14.8 per 100,000—but the greatest declines, averaging about 40%, occurred in northern states, such as Massachusetts, New York, and the District of Columbia, reported Saqr Alsakarneh, MD, a resident in internal medicine at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.
There was at least some decrease in mortality over the study period in every state except Mississippi, where the mortality of CRC increased over the study period by 1.5%, according to Dr. Alsakarneh, but he reported that modest reductions also were seen in numerous other southern states. He attributed the more modified CRC reductions in the south to higher rates of obesity, tobacco use and limited physical exercise.
In 1990, the age-standardized prevalence of CRC was 273 per 100,000 individuals, according to the data Dr. Alsakarneh derived from the GBD database and presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology (abstract P0199). In 2019, the prevalence was 259 per 100,000, a 5% overall decline from 1990. The incidence over the same time period fell from 47.6 per 100,000 to 41.0 per 100,000, a 12% decline.