Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/18/2020
By: Flor Wang and Chang Ming-hsuan

Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) Colon cancer, the leading cause of death among cancer patients in Taiwan for 12 consecutive years, is most prevalent in southern Taiwan, with one in nearly 200 people suffering from the disease, a study has found.

In 2018, 497 per 100,000 people in southern Taiwan (the Yunlin/Chiayi/Tainan area) suffered from colon cancer, followed by 467 in greater Taipei (the Taipei/New Taipei/Keelung/Yilan/Kinmen/Matsu area) and 420 in the Kaohsiung/Pingtung/Penghu area, the Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (SCRS) said on Friday when publishing the results of a study based on data collected from the National Health Insurance Program.

That same year, there were 369 colon cancer patients in central Taiwan (the Taichung/Changhua/Nantou area), 365 in northern Taiwan (the Taoyuan/Hsinchu/Miaoli area), and 354 in eastern Taiwan (the Hualien/Taitung area).

A further analysis found that an average of one out of every 200 people in the Yunlin/Chiayi/Tainan area could have colon cancer — 1.4 times the number in the Hualien/Taitung area — with one in six patients being diagnosed in the fourth stage.
[FULL  STORY]