[Epidemiology of colorectal cancer--internationally and in Switzerland]

The descriptive epidemiology of colorectal cancer in Switzerland is presented and compared to international geographic patterns and time trends. Switzerland has a typical western pattern of relatively high incidence and mortality rates. Mortality from colon cancer is stable with a slight male preponderance; rectal cancer mortality is decreasing, especially in females. The proportion of rectal cancers in the incidence data of colorectal cancer is not as prominent as shown by French or German cancer registries. There is an urban-rural-gradient, more prominent in colon than in rectal cancer. As in other countries, white collar occupations show elevated PMRs and manual occupations low ones, a finding which is confounded with the geographical distribution of these occupations.