Socioeconomic and Healthcare Indicators and Colorectal Cancer Burden: Analysis of Eurostat and Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 Data.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality worldwide, posing a substantial health and economic burden. Despite advances in screening and treatment, significant socioeconomic and healthcare-related disparities persist across European Union (EU) member states. This study aims to identify trends and inequality in CRC burden over time and to explore the relationship between country-level socioeconomic and healthcare indicators and CRC burden across EU member states. Age-standardized mortality, years lived with disability (YLD), years of life lost (YLL), and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) rates were extracted from Global Burden of Diseases Study 2021 for 24 EU countries. Socioeconomic and healthcare indicators were extracted from Eurostat between 2005 and 2021. The Gini index was calculated to evaluate CRC-related health inequality, and generalized linear mixed models were used to assess the link between indicators and disease burden. The Gini index for age-standardized YLDs declined from 0.19 to 0.12 between 1990 and 2021, while inequality in YLL (from 0.11 to 0.16), DALY (from 0.11 to 0.15), and mortality rates (from 0.12 to 0.14) increased. The number of practicing physicians ( < 0.05) and higher levels of education ( < 0.001) were related to lower death, DALY, YLD, and YLL rates. Conversely, greater income inequality was linked to higher mortality, DALY, and YLL rates ( < 0.05). Our findings underscore that, in addition to expanding organized screening programs, enhancing physician availability and addressing socioeconomic inequalities are essential for reducing the burden of CRC.