ObjectiveTo analyze the relationship between educational level and oncological characteristics of colorectal patients served by Sichuan University West China Hospital in the current version of the Database from Colorectal Cancer (DACCA). MethodsThe DACCA version selected for this data analysis was the updated version on June 29, 2022. The data items analyzed included: educational level, precancerous lesions, family history of cancer, tumor location, tumor orientation, tumor pathology, tumor morphology, tumor differentiation and preoperative TNM staging. According to Article 17 of the Education Law of the People’s Republic of China, the educational level of the research subjects was divided into four categories: illiteracy group, the primary educated group (elementary school), the secondary educated group (middle school, high school, vocational school and technical school), and the higher educated group (university, higher vocational school, junior college and above). ResultsThe DACCA database was filtered by conditions to obtain 5 512 valid data. The data analysis results showed that there were statistically significant differences in the composition ratios of precancerous lesions (χ2=27.398, P<0.001), tumor site (χ2=42.610, P<0.001) and tumor orientation (χ2=18.967, P=0.025) among the different education groups, and there were not statistically significant differences in the composition ratios of family history of cancer in oneself (χ2=9.345, P=0.133) or in the family (χ2=4.310, P=0.635), tumor pathological properties (χ2=27.027, P=0.202), tumor morphology (χ2=16.283, P=0.061), tumor differentiation degree (H=3.672, P=0.299) and the TNM staging of tumors before operation (H=0.156, P=0.984) among the different education groups. ConclusionsData analysis in DACCA reveal multiple associations between educational level and oncological characteristics of colorectal cancer patients. The education level of patients has a certain reference value in the investigation of various precancerous lesions. With the increase of education level, the proportion of tumors located in the rectum gradually decreases, and the proportion located in the colon gradually increases, and education level may affect treatment and prognosis by influencing preoperative tumor characteristics.
ObjectiveTo analyze the relation between the literacy and prognosis in the patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) in the current version of the Database from Colorectal Cancer of West China (DACCA). MethodsThe version of DACCA selected for this data analysis was updated on September 12, 2022. The data items analyzed included age, gender, literacy, tumour site, nature of tumour, pathological TNM (pTNM) stage, survival status, and survival time. The overall survival and disease-specific survival of the CRC patients with different literacy (illiteracy, primary, secondary, and tertiary educations) after radical resection were compared, and then which were analyzed in the patients with different pTNM stages. ResultsA total of 3 692 data eligible for the study were screened, of which 202 were illiteracy, 1 054 were primary education, 1 809 were secondary education, and 627 were tertiary education; And there were 13 of stage 0, 406 of stage Ⅰ, 1 193 of stage Ⅱ, 1 139 of stage Ⅲ, and 941 of stage Ⅳ. The differences in the comparison of the pTNM stage and the nature of the tumour among the patients with the four levels of literacy were not statistically significant (P>0.05), while the differences in the comparison of the gender, age, and tumour site were statistically significant (P<0.001). The overall survival and disease-specific survival curves of the CRC patients with different literacy had no statistical differences (χ2=1.982, P=0.576; χ2=2.618, P=0.454), and the stratified overall survival curves had no statistical differences among the patients with pTNM stages Ⅰ to Ⅳ (stage Ⅰ: χ2=1.361, P=0.715; stage Ⅱ: χ2=3.507, P=0.320; stage Ⅲ: χ2=3.144, P=0.370; stage Ⅳ: χ2=4.993, P=0.172), and the stratified disease-specific survival curves had no statistical differences (stage Ⅰ: χ2=0.723, P=0.868; stage Ⅱ: χ2=3.295, P=0.348; stage Ⅲ: χ2=4.767, P=0.190; stage Ⅳ: χ2=6.177, P=0.103). ConclusionsThe results of this study based on real-world big data analysis suggests that the differences of overall survival and disease-specific survival of CRC patients with different literacy levels (illiterate, primary, secondary, and tertiary education) are not statistically significant, and the results of stratified analysis based on pTNM staging are consistent with this. In the future, limitations of this study can be excluded and further analysis can be conducted by combining treatment details or expanding sample data to seek more realistic results.