Prevalence of undiagnosed cancer of the large bowel found at autopsy in different races

The prevalence of undiagnosed colon and rectal cancer found in 16,105 autopsies is tabulated by age, sex, and race. The prevalence was higher in women than in men, lower in Negroes than in Caucasians or Orientals, and lowest of all in Mexicans. In this population, 18 percent of the symptomatic cancers were undiagnosed premortem. Grossly recognizable latent cancer was no more frequent than undiagnosed symptomatic cancer.