Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER; data updated in April 2025) was used to explore the US disease burden of metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC).
METHODS: 17 cancer registries (January 2018 - December 2022) were covered with SEER*Stat. The target population included metastatic CRC (M1 stage). Outcomes were crude incidence and mortality rates (per 100,000 population) and survival.
RESULTS: 36,973 metastatic CRC patients were identified. Patients were mostly 65+ years old (51.49%), males (55.41%), non-Hispanic Whites (60.24%), married (48.12%), from metropolitan counties (87.21%), and with a $65,000-90,000 annual household income (45.40%). Per TNM staging, the most frequent were TX-NX-M1 CRC (25.51%). The incidence rate was 8.45/100,000 in the 2018-2022 period. The highest rates among N and T classes were observed for NX (3.39/100,000) and TX (3.39/100,000). The incidence rate of TX-NX-M1 CRC was 2.16/100,000. Incidence rates slightly increased over the years (8.32/100,000 in 2018 vs. 8.51/100,000 in 2022). The mortality rate was 5.44/100,000 in the 2018-2022 period. The highest mortalities across N and T categories were reported for NX (2.46/100,000) and TX CRC (2.58/100,000). The mortality rate of TX-NX-M1 CRC was 1.67/100,000. Mortality trends analysis observed a continuous increase over the years, with 2.56/100,000 in 2018 and 7.20/100,000 in 2022. Patients diagnosed in 2018 had a 54.59% 1-year survival rate and a 16.55% 4-year survival rate. Excluding the categories with 0% rates due to small samples (T1a and T4c), the lowest 4-year survival rates were reported for T0 (5.93%) and NX CRC (7.81%). In 2021, 1-year survival was 54.95%, with the lowest rates also in T0 (38.98%) and NX stages (44.92%).
CONCLUSIONS: The updated SEER data analysis may indicate metastatic CRC diagnosis has a high disease burden in the US. Despite small annual changes in incidence, increasing mortality trends and low survival rates depict the urgent need for novel treatment approaches.