Objective

To describe cases of colorectal cancer regarding sociodemographic and clinical aspects in the state of Maranhão, Brazil.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional, retrospective study with a quantitative approach. Data were exported from the hospital cancer registry information system, with a time frame from 2013 to 2017, being analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results

421 cases of colorectal cancer were analyzed, there was a predominance of females (55.3 %), age was between 60 and 70 years (29.5 %), the race/color of patients was brown (67.7 %), marital status was married (46.8 %), incomplete elementary school education (42.3 %) and agricultural occupation (22.1 %). The most frequent tumor topographies were colon (36.1 %), histological type was adenocarcinoma (71.3 %), tumors were classified as stage IV (27.4 %) and no metastasis record (74.3 %), had no history of alcoholism and smoking, 28% and 29.2%, respectively. They were treated with surgery and chemotherapy (19 %), had disease remission/cure (26.8 %) of the cases, had no family history of cancer (23.8 %), associated multiple tests for diagnosis (79.1 %) and the time between diagnosis and treatment was over 60 days (37.5 %).

Conclusion

Colorectal cancer is a public health problem due to the silent development of the disease, population risk factors and the challenge of lifestyle changes in the population. Thus, it is necessary to implement screening, prevention, and early diagnosis strategies in order to reduce the morbidity and mortality impacts of the neoplasm in the elderly population.