Colorectal cancer epidemiology in Japan: Mortality, incidence, survival

The mortality, incidence, and survival rates for colorectal cancer in Japan are reviewed, with attention paid to changes over time and comparison with US statistics. The age-adjusted mortality rate gradually decreased in Japan, 16.2 per 100,000 per year in 2014. In contrast, the age-adjusted incident rate is rather flat, 54.7 in 2012. The survival rate, dependent on stage of disease, improved to 69.2 % (2003-2005), as overall 5-year survival. In the desig- nated cancer care hospital, we compared the stage distribution between Japan and US, with stage 0, 14.7 % vs 5.8 %, and with stage IV, 13.3 %vs 19.2 %, the cancer and polyps earlier detected in Japan. The epidemiological colorectal cancer statistics in Japan and US are much different in each aspects.