Citation
Thompson, Caroline A.; Begi, Talia; & Parada, Humberto Jr. (2022). Alarming Recent Rises in Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer. Cancer, 128(2), 230-233. PMCID: PMC8931859Abstract
Because of recent increases in early-onset diagnoses, nearly 10% of colorectal cancers (CRCs) are now diagnosed in individuals younger than 50 years. CRC is a deadly and all too commonly diagnosed cancer. For the 39% of patients with CRC fortunate enough to be diagnosed with localized-stage disease, the 5-year survival rate is 90%; however, this declines to 71% for patients with cancers that have spread regionally and is lowest at 14% for those diagnosed with distant metastases. Despite important gains in CRC prevention among adults aged 50 years or older, especially since guideline recommendations for routine screening were introduced in the 1970s, the CRC risk for younger adults has been gradually rising. Increases were previously observed to be as high as 3% annually for adults aged 20 to 29 years and 0.5% to 1.3% for adults aged 40 to 50 years. Early-onset CRC has also been highlighted in the media recently in light of the untimely death of celebrated Hollywood actor Chadwick Boseman, who was just 39 years old at the time of his diagnosis. In 2018, the American Cancer Society lowered its recommended age for starting CRC screening from 50 to 45 years, and in May 2021, the US Preventive Services Task Force followed suit.URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cncr.33919Reference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2022Journal Title
CancerAuthor(s)
Thompson, Caroline A.Begi, Talia
Parada, Humberto Jr.