title: Colorectal cancer: a study of risk factors in a tertiary care hospital of north bengal.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Age, sex, living place (urban or rural), smoking, alcohol consumption, dietary pattern, obesity are considered as risk factors for Colorectal cancer. Our study was done to evaluate the association between these risk factors and colorectal cancer in the population of North Bengal.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study was done over a period of one year as a hospital-based analytical observational type of study with cross-sectional type of study design. All the patients undergoing colorectal endoscopic biopsy at the Department of Surgery, NBMC&H during the study period for various clinical indications comprised the study population. History and clinical examination were done of the patients whose colorectal biopsy were taken and filled-up in a pre-designed pre-tested proforma. Significance was tested at 95% confidence interval.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There is an increased risk of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) with increasing age in our study population. Odd's ratio for last 2 age groups are statistically significant with 2.83 for 41-50 years age group (95% CI is0.3-24), 13.6 for 51-60 years age group (95% CI is 2.1-85.9), 42.5 for more than 60 y age group patients (95% CI is 3.1-571). There is increased risk of colorectal carcinoma in males with an Odd's ratio of 1.6 (95% CI is 0.5-5.5), but it is not statistically significant. There was an increased urban incidence of colorectal carcinoma compared to rural population with an Odd's ratio of 1.8 (with a 95% CI of 0.6-5.9). In our study smoking also proved to be a risk factor and it is significant with an Odd's ratio of 5.4 with a 95% CI of 1.6-8.7. Odd's ratio for cases of alcohol consumption was 3.5 with a 95% CI of 1-11.6. Carcinoma cases were more common among patients with history of non-vegetarian dietary intake with Odds ratio of 1.5 (with a 95% CI of 0.3-8.7), but it was not statistically significant. Obesity has got a significant association with CRC in our study with an Odd's ratio of 7.2 (with 95% CI of 1.3-40.2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More than 50 years of age, smoking, obesity were significant risk factors in our study. Other risk factors were though not significant, but much more common in colorectal cancer patients compared to non-malignant population.
authors.affiliation: Senior Resident, Department of Pathology, Ramkrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan Hospital , Kolkata, West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Sumanta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.affiliation: Demonstrator, Department of Community Medicine, Burdawan Medical College , West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Saikat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, R G Kar Medical College Hosptal , Kolkata, India .
authors.forename: Rivu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, North Bengal Medical Colleege Hospital , Siliguri, West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Pranati
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bera
authors.affiliation: Consultant, Department of Pathology, Kalpataru Hospital, Barasat , West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Aniket
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Halder
keywords: Colorectal carcinoma; Endoscopic biopsy; Obesity; Smoking