Descriptive epidemiology of colorectal cancer in the United States, 1998–2001

This article presents an overview of the descriptive epidemiology of colorectal cancer (CRC) in the United States and provides detailed methodologic information on the cancer incidence data from population-based cancer registries that were used by most of the articles in this supplement. Information in this article and the other articles in the supplement will be important for guiding cancer control and prevention efforts related to reducing the burden of CRC.