Colorectal carcinoma among Indigenous people: a public hospital-based study in Townsville and Cairns, North Queensland, Australia

INTRODUCTION: There are very little clinical and pathological data on colorectal cancer among Indigenous people in Australia. METHODS: A retrospective study on Indigenous patients treated for colorectal cancer at the Townsville and Cairns Base Hospitals from 1999 to 2004 was carried out in order to better characterise this disease in the Indigenous population. RESULTS: There were 25 patients (12 M, 13 F) with a median age of 57.3 years. The majority (56%) of the tumours were left-sided, being in the sigmoid colon, rectosigmoid junction and rectum. Of the patients, 60% had American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system Stage I and II disease at presentation. There was a relatively high proportion of poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas (40%). Six patients died of the disease. The median follow-up was 20.5 months (range 2-51). CONCLUSIONS: Comparisons were made with available data on colorectal cancer in the general Australian population. The limitations and deficiencies of the study, as well as problems of data collection on Indigenous people were discussed.