Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The “disproportionate density” of early-onset colorectal cancer mortality in the Southern United States is associated with high food insecurity and low access to healthy food, according to a presenter here.

Time from presentation to treatment did not affect survival among adults aged younger than 50 years with colorectal cancer, according to study results published in JAMA Network Open.

A greater percentage of colorectal cancer cases in the United States are being diagnosed at advanced stages, according to an American Cancer Society report.

A dramatic rise in global incidence of early-onset cancers over the past 30 years may be related in part to increased exposure to risk factors at a young age, according to study results published in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology,

Colorectal cancer screening prevalence remained low in 2018 among U.S. adults aged 50 to 54 years vs. 70 to 75 years, with the younger group exhibiting larger disparities by race/ethnicity, education level, income and insurance.

Early-onset colorectal cancer did not appear genomically distinct from average-onset disease, according to results of a retrospective, single-institution analysis published in Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Among women, a higher intake of sugar-sweetened beverages in adulthood and adolescence correlated with a higher risk for early-onset colorectal cancer, according to research published in Gut.

Black patients with early-onset, microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer had substantially higher tumor mutational burden than their white counterparts, according to study results.

Although colorectal cancer is most commonly diagnosed among those aged older than 50 years, we have seen a decrease in cases diagnosed in that age group due to screening and prevention. Unfortunately, the rates of colorectal cancer among those aged younger than 50 years have been rising in the United States, with an estimated 12% of cases, or about 18,000, diagnosed among this younger population in 2020. Recently, the American Cancer Society and the USPSTF lowered the recommended age to begin screening to 45 years.

Black individuals have the highest incidence and mortality rates of colorectal cancer of any racial or ethnic group in the United States.