A positive family history of cancer or lifestyle factors may not explain the high incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer in India

SUMMARY

Aim: Colorectal cancer (CRC) patients from developing countries such as India exhibit distinct clinico-pathological characteristics including an early age of onset and predominant tumor localization in the rectum. However, the reason(s) for increased occurrence among the young is not clear. Materials & methods: In the current study, we performed a comparative analysis of several epidemiological features in early and late-onset CRC patients from India including association with familial syndromes, diet and lifestyle habits. Results: Surprisingly, there was no significant association of any epidemiological variable with early-onset CRC. Conclusion: Perhaps low penetrance syndromes and/or other genetic causes may be responsible for an early age of onset among Indian CRC patients.

KEYWORDS:

• alcohol consumption
• colorectal cancer
• diet
• early-onset colorectal cancer
• genetic background of cancer
• smoking

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Corrigendum

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This study was supported by a core grant from the Department of Biotechnology to MD Bashyam's host institution, the CDFD, Hyderabad, India. R Raman, a registered PhD student of Manipal University, is grateful to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, for junior and senior research fellowships. All authors have no conflict of interest. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the patients for their kind consent for the study. The authors are grateful to Dr Kongara Ravikanth and Dr Regulagadda A Sastry from Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, and Dr Subramayeshwar Rao from Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital and Research Institute, Hyderabad, for facilitating collection of information from the patients. Authors acknowledge the contribution of MrVoltur Chandrashekar, Laboratory of Molecular Oncol­ogy, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad for assistance in data collection.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a core grant from the Department of Biotechnology to MD Bashyam's host institution, the CDFD, Hyderabad, India. R Raman, a registered PhD student of Manipal University, is grateful to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, for junior and senior research fellowships. All authors have no conflict of interest. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.