Background:

colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequent tumors in terms of incidence and mortality. Several elements, both inherited and environmental, have been related with its pathogenesis.

Aims:

to analyze the influence of age, gender and nutritional factors on the diagnosis of colonic polyps and CRC.

Methods:

a prospective, descriptive study over outpatients from the Health Area of León who took a colonoscopy between 09/09/2012 and 06/30/2013. Patients were asked to fill a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire with data such a sociodemographic, toxic and dietetic facts. Differences in diagnosis according to sociodemographic and hygiene-dietetic data were analyzed with a multivariate analysis by forward stepwise logistic regression.

Results:

data were collected from 1390 patients. Mean age was 57.88 (15.17) years and 47.8 % were male. CRC was diagnosed in 5 % of colonoscopies, and polyps in 20.4 %, with 9.4 % of them being HRA. Risk of polyps and HRA was higher in males (26.9 % vs 14.5 %) and (12.6 % vs 6.3 %), respectively (p < 0.001). Mean age was significantly higher in patients who presented polyps (56.51 (15.45) vs 63.22 (12.69) years; p < 0.001). Among the group who reported intake of smoked and salted food, the risk of polyps doubled (2.9 % vs 6.7 %, p = 0.002). In relation to alcohol intake we found that subjects with daily alcohol consumption showed a higher incidence of polyps when compared to occasional drinkers and teetotallers (32 % vs 20 % vs 18.6 %, p = 0.002).

Conclusions:

age correlated with higher risk of polyps, HRA and CRC. Moreover, male gender also was associated with a high risk of polyps and HRA. Alcohol and red and processed meat intake increased polyp risk.

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