The influence of gender on colorectal cancer stage: The state of Ohio, 1996-2001

Purpose: The authors sought to determine if colorectal cancer stage at diagnosis varies by gender in the state of Ohio. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study. Included in the cohort were patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer from 1996 to 2001 who had their data reported to the State of Ohio Tumor Registry. We collected data on gender, stage of cancer, and three potential confounding variables: age, location of colon cancer, and race. The colorectal cancer was determined to be at one of four stages: (1) carcinoma in situ, (2) local disease, (3) regional disease, and (4) distant disease. In addition, we combined stages 1 and 2 to create a good prognosis category, and we combined stages 3 and 4 to create a bad prognosis category. Results: Our cohort consisted of 27,041 patients [13,807 women (51%) and 13,234 men]. The women with colon cancer were significantly older and had more right-sided colon cancer, (p < 0.05). With the use of logistic regression, the women were significantly less likely to have carcinoma in situ compared with the men (OR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.75-0.89). The women also had a significant decrease in local disease (OR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.89-0.99). In contrast, the women showed significantly more regional disease than men (OR = 1.11, 95% CI 1.05-1.16). The women were less likely to have a good prognostic stage ( OR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.85-0.94) and more likely to have a bad prognostic stage ( OR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.07-1.18). Conclusions: In the State of Ohio from 1996 to 2001, women had more advanced colon cancer at diagnosis than men.