In 2022, 12,000 people in the Netherlands were diagnosed with colorectal or rectal cancer, almost 1,000 less than in 2021. This makes bowel cancer the only common type of cancer with a decreasing number of diagnoses. Since the introduction of the population screening, bowel cancer is more often diagnosed at a lower stage.
Since the introduction of the population screening program for bowel cancer, a declining trend can be seen in the number of diagnoses. In 2014, the population screening for bowel cancer started. All Dutch people between the ages of 55 and 75 are invited to attend. Suspicious polyps (precursors of colon cancer) and tumors are removed during this examination. In 2021 there were temporarily more diagnoses of bowel cancer than in 2020, because a backlog resulting from the shutdown of the population screening during the corona crisis was made up. In 2022, the number of bowel cancer diagnoses will decrease again, as was the case before the corona crisis.
Most diagnoses between 55-75 years
Most bowel cancer diagnoses are made in the age group 55-75 years (56 percent). Ten percent of the people who received a colon cancer diagnosis were 55 years or younger. Men (54 percent) are diagnosed slightly more often than women (46 percent).
More often low stage
Since the introduction of the population screening, bowel cancer is more often diagnosed at a low stage. In 2013, 18 percent of all colorectal cancer diagnoses were stage I tumors, in 2021 that will be 31 percent. The proportion of stage IV tumors decreased, from 26 percent in 2013 to 19 percent in 2021. Colon cancer is often more treatable when found at a low stage, and the prognosis of the disease is also better. For example, the five-year survival rate for stage I tumors is around 95 percent, and for stage IV tumors between 12 and 14 percent.
Stage at diagnosis
The stage is a measure of the extent of the disease. Colon cancer arises from epithelial cells, the mucosa, that line the inside of the large intestine.
• In stage I, the intestinal tumor is limited to the intestinal wall itself.
• In stage II, the tumor has grown through the intestinal wall, but has not spread to the lymph nodes.
• In stage III, the tumor has spread to the local lymph nodes.
• In stage IV, the tumor has spread to distant lymph nodes or other organs and/or tissues in the body.
Knowing more
• On behalf of the RIVM, IKNL analyzed figures relating to the population screening for bowel cancer. View the monitor here.
• More figures on colorectal cancer? Look at iknl.nl/darmkanker
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