Increased Risk of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Patients with Colorectal Cancer in Eastern China: Seroprevalence, Risk Factors, and a Case–Control Study

Table 1

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and control subjects in eastern China.

	Patients with CRC ()				Controls ()
Characteristic	Prevalence of T. gondii infection				Prevalence of T. gondii infection
	No. tested	No. positive	%		No. tested	No. positive	%
Age (years)
≤50	31	7	22.58%	0.65	28	2	7.14%	0.93
51 to 69	194	31	15.98%		152	14	9.21%
≥70	62	10	16.13%		107	10	9.35%
Sex
Male	156	23	14.74%	0.33	173	16	9.25%	0.89
Female	131	25	19.08%		114	10	8.77%
Residence area
Urban	77	6	7.79%	0.014	122	6	4.92%	0.036
Rural	210	42	20.00%		165	20	12.12%
Contact with cats
Yes	109	13	11.93%	0.09	127	13	10.24%	0.54
No	178	35	19.66%		160	13	8.13%
Contact with dogs
Yes	47	8	17.02%	0.95	80	5	6.25%
No	240	40	16.67%		207	21	10.14%	0.31
Contact with swine
Yes	40	7	17.50%	0.89	47	4	8.51%	0.88
No	247	41	16.60%		240	22	9.17%
Consumption of raw/undercooked meat
Yes	61	5	8.20%	0.44	42	2	4.76%	0.39
No	226	43	19.03%		245	24	9.80%
Consumption of raw vegetables
Yes	198	32	16.16%	0.71	226	22	9.73%	0.44
No	89	16	17.98%		61	4	6.56%
Exposure to soil
Yes	162	28	17.28%	0.77	172	13	7.56%	0.28
No	125	20	16.00%		115	13	11.30%
Source of drinking water
Tap	203	11	5.42%	0.29	207	17	8.21%	0.42
Well + river	84	37	44.05%		80	9	11.25%
Volunteer’s occupation
Farmer	135	24	17.78%	0.65	153	17	11.11%	0.2
Worker	152	24	15.79%		134	9	6.72%
Tumor location
Left side colon	74	16	21.62%	0.29
Right side colon	53	10	18.87%
Rectum	160	22	13.75%
Tumor diameter
≤5 cm	199	33	16.58%	0.92
>5 cm	88	15	17.05%
Tumor stage
I + II	169	22	13.02%	0.044
III + IV	118	26	22.03%
Mucin production
With	36	4	11.11%	0.34
Without	251	44	17.53%
Blood transfusion history
Yes	23	4	17.39%	0.93
No	264	44	16.67%
Chemotherapy history
Yes	188	38	20.21%	0.029
No	99	10	10.10%