Objective To compare the epidemiological status and trends of colorectal cancer in China and the United States, and to summarize the respective prevention and screening strategies. MethodsBased on relevant data such as the Global cancer statistics (2022), Cancer statistics (2025), the China Cancer Burden of Disease Report (2022), and the China-United States colorectal cancer epidemiology report, the incidence, mortality and trends of colorectal cancer in China and the United States were analyzed. ResultsFrom 2000 to 2018, age-standardized incidence rate of colorectal cancer in China increased by an average of 2.7% per year for men and 1.1% per year for women, with an average annual mortality increase of 1.2% for men and a decrease of 0.3% per year for women. Colorectal cancer mortality decreased by an average of 1.2% per year in the United States in 2011–2021 and by an average of 1.7% per year in 2013–2022, and the 5-year relative survival rate for colorectal cancer increased from 50% in 1975–1977 to 64% in 2014–2020. ConclusionsThe incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer in the United States have shown a downward trend, and the survival rate of patients is increasing. The situation in our country is different: the incidence continues to rise, the mortality is higher than the United States, and although the survival rate has improved, it is still not at the level of the United States. China continues to face a heavy burden of colorectal cancer. To enhance colorectal cancer prevention and treatment, it is essential to establish a new multi-stakeholder collaborative framework for disease control, ultimately forming a colorectal cancer management system with Chinese characteristics, thereby effectively reducing the national colorectal cancer disease burden.
Against the backdrop of medical digital transformation, West China Hospital of Sichuan University has conducted a 30-year exploration and practice of colorectal cancer data engineering. This study focuses on the integration of special disease digitization and value-based healthcare, achieving standardized management and in-depth mining of colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment data through constructing a full-life cycle data governance system, multi-center data platform, and intelligent application scenarios (such as clinical decision support systems). The practical results show that this data engineering has formed a specialized disease database containing more than 9 500 cases of structured data, and promoted the collaborative development of the entire chain of “production–study–research–business–government”, providing a learnable digital paradigm for improving diagnostic and treatment accuracy and optimizing medical resource allocation. The study indicates that special disease digitization is a key path to achieving value-based healthcare, and its experience in data standardization and medical-engineering cross-innovation is of reference significance for other disease fields.