*1.2.3 Developing analytical cancer epidemiology*

Cancer was observed to be the second most common cause of death nationwide during 2005–2006 (about 16%) [11, 12, 14], after vascular heart diseases (about 25%). Colorectal cancer (ICD-10: C18–20) has occurred at a national level in Vietnam. This study aims to generate a comprehensive picture of the fatal disease in the eight regions of Vietnam, with the hope to facilitate epidemiological studies in our country. For data of risk factors of colorectal cancer, we conducted a molecular epidemiological case–control study on the incident cases of the disease from 2002 to 2011. The study was designed by the leading experts of cancer epidemiologists from Japan and Vietnam. The protocol was approved by the scientific and ethics committees of the MONBUKAGAKUSHO (Japan) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (Vietnam). Initial results and findings were published elsewhere [22–24].
