Colorectal cancer incidence, mortality, stage distribution and survival in European countries in the colorectal cancer screening era: Updated Results from an International Collaborative Study of Population-Based Cancer Registries

Abstract

Specific research questions - *How has CRC incidence and mortality evolved with the implementation of various CRC screening programs in different European countries? - How is CRC detected across different European countries (i.e. proportion of cases detected by screening (and which mode) and by symptoms)? - How do CRC detection patterns differ by sex, age, stage and site across different countries? How have they changed over time till date? - What is the overall survival and CRC-specific survival within 5 years after diagnosis of screen-detected patients (by modality) and symptom-detected patients? What patterns and time trends are observed across the different countries?

*This is the analysis that would be done with the German data, while the other questions would be addressed (only) for those countries where the respective information would be available.

Using de-identified, routine cancer registry data from all European countries, this project seeks to update our previous analyses and generate new information on the comparative assessment of the variations among the different countries. The aims of this study, therefore, remains as stated in our previous proposal, and as highlighted below: i) To compare the implementation of CRC screening in different European countries by year of implementation, screening exams offered, age range included, population coverage and adherence rates; ii) **To assess time trends in CRC mortality, incidence, mode of CRC detection, stage at diagnosis and survival of CRC patients in relation to the factors listed in i).

**This is the analysis (without mode of CRC detection) that would be done with the German data, while the other questions would be addressed (only) for those countries where the respective information would be available.