Behind the rising colorectal cancer rates in young people: Researchers identify new concerns

Young adults who develop colon cancer tend to be diagnosed at later stages of the devastating disease — and have more aggressive types of tumors, new research finds .

The study authors “strongly” link colon cancer in young people to obesity , family history of the illness, inflammatory bowel disease and symptoms such as stomach pain and rectal bleeding.

Researchers investigated nearly 319,000 US cases of colon cancer diagnosed between 2015 and 2021. Of those, about 17,000 patients were between 18 and 44 and the other 302,000 were older.

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Colon cancer has long been associated with older adults, especially people over 65 . But colorectal cancer rates have been steadily increasing among adults under 50 since the ’90s .

“We know that over the last 20 years, rates of colon cancer diagnoses have decreased 20% for patients 66 years and older,” said Dr. Kelley Chan , lead study author and a fourth-year general surgery resident at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago.

“However, the rates of this cancer in those between 18 and 44 years old have increased 15% during that same period,” she added.

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Chan’s team noted that among the younger adult cases they studied, there was a remarkable number of non-Hispanic black patients and a startling number of patients diagnosed in the later stages of the disease.

Chadwick Boseman was both — the “Black Panther” star was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2016 at the age of 39 before dying of the disease in 2020 at 43.

Oncologists have partly blamed the concerning rise in youth cases and deaths on obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, the Western diet , excess sugar consumption, environmental factors such as pollutants in the air, soil and water, and other factors yet to be identified.

“Our findings highlight the need for more research to understand the development of colon cancer in adults under age 45,” Chan said.

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Inspired by the troubling trend, the US Preventive Services Task Force changed its colorectal cancer screening guidelines in 2021 to lower the recommended age to start screening from 50 to 45 for adults at average risk.

The young people who are diagnosed with colorectal cancer are likely to experience anxiety and uncertainty about their physical and mental health, career, finances, fertility and family plans, a separate new study found.

Researchers from the University of Michigan interviewed 35 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer before the age of 50 and determined there is a need for programming to address their unique challenges.

“We need more research to better understand these issues in patients with colorectal cancer as well as other cancers and, ultimately, to restructure our comprehensive cancer programs to make sure we are treating the patient and not just the disease,” said lead study author Dr. Samantha Savitch.

The research from Savitch and Chan will be presented in the coming days at the American College of Surgeons conference in San Francisco.

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