Colorectal Cancer Screening in the USA Case Study

Introduction

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common types of cancer found in the USA. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2018), over 136,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed every year. The disease typically affects individuals aged 50 or higher. Analyzing the available statistics to determine the incidence, prevalence, and other important data can help inform medical practice. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the implications of data on colorectal cancer for a 50-year-old male patient.

Colorectal Cancer Overall Incidence Rate in the US

According to the provided case study, the US population stands at 301,351,776 people. At the same time, 136,717 new cases are diagnosed on a yearly basis (CDC, 2018). The overall incidence rate per 100,000 people is calculated using the following formula:

OI_r = Afflicted population x 100,000 / Total population = 136,717 x 100,000 / 301,357,776 = 45.37 incidents per 100,000 (Bland, 2015).

The Relative Risk of Contracting CRC

The breakdown of all cases of CRC by gender is as follows: 70,223 incidents for males and 66,494 incidents for females. According to the US census, the population of the country is comprised of 148,640,424 males and 152,711,352 females (CDC, 2018). It is possible to calculate the incidence for both genders and the relative risk of contracting CRC:

• I_m = 70,223 x 100,000 / 148,640,424 = 47.24 cases per 100,000;
• I_f = 66,494 x 100,000 / 152,711,352 = 43.56 cases per 100,000.

Calculating relative risk for males and females is done using the following table:

RR_m = A / (A+B) : C / (C+D) = 0.51 : 0.49 = 1.04.

To calculate RR for females, one must replace the letters A with B and C with D in the table (Pyrczak, 2017). The results are the following:

RR_f = 0.486 : 0.506 = 0.96.

Incidence of Colon Cancer for Different Age Categories

The following table contains the incidence rate for male patients in every age category:

Relative Risks of Colon Cancer for Male Population

The relative risks in males aged 50 or older versus males younger than 50 are as follows:

• RR_<50 = 0.104 : 0.708 = 0.147;
• RR₅₀₊ = 0.896 : 0.292 = 3.07.

Prevalence Rates

• N₅₀₊ = 538,584 males aged 50 or older;
• Pr₅₀₊ = 1240,77 individuals per 100,000 population;
• N_<50 = 31,346 males younger than 50;
• Pr_<50 = 29.79 individuals per 100,000 population.

Conclusions

Based on statistics provided above, it can be concluded that Mr. Jones is at an increased risk of developing CRC. The numbers show that adults aged 50 years or older have a drastically higher incidence and prevalence rates as well as higher relative risk of contracting CRC. Males are also more likely to develop the affliction than females. Based on this data, it would be recommended to monitor Mr. Jones’ health and assign regular schedules for cancer screenings. Discovering cancer early on provides more opportunities for treatment.

References

Bland, M. (2015). An introduction to medical statistics (4th ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). Colorectal cancer statistics. Web.

Pyrczak, F. (2017). Making sense of statistics: A conceptual overview (6th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.