Ng added, with many other meeting participants agreeing. When the incidence of a disease changes by generation, that suggests the culprit is something in the environment, rather than something biological, Dr. On the other hand, there may be a set of unique risk factors for colorectal cancer in younger adults that researchers haven’t yet identified, he added.Īlthough certain genetic conditions-like Lynch syndrome and familial adenomatous polyposis-raise the risk of developing colorectal cancer at a young age, only 10% to 20% of early-onset colorectal cancers are caused by inherited factors, explained Kimmie Ng, M.D., of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. So, it’s possible that some of the same factors are responsible for the rise of early-onset disease, he noted. “Some of those have become more common over the last 45 years, along with this rise in early-onset cases,” said Daschner, who helped plan the think tank. But they do know some factors that raise the risk of colorectal cancer in older adults, including obesity, physical inactivity, and smoking. Causes of Colorectal Cancer in Young AdultsĮxperts don’t know what’s causing the jump in colorectal cancer among young adults. In most of these places, the number of cases in younger adults started trending upward around 1995.
Similar trends have also been documented in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and some parts of Europe and Asia. Lee, M.D., of Kaiser Permanente Northern California. The United States isn’t the only country facing the alarming rise in early-onset colorectal cancer, noted Jeffrey K. However, Blacks are still more likely to get colorectal cancer at a young age than Whites, even though the gap is shrinking, said Nathan Ellis, Ph.D., of the University of Arizona Cancer Center. For instance, although people of all races can develop colorectal cancer at a young age, the spike has mostly been seen among Alaska Natives, American Indians, and Whites. Some groups have been hit by the rising trend more than others. But the disease is still relatively rare, affecting far less than 1% of younger adults. Nearly 18,000 people under the age of 50 will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year in the United States, said Rebecca Siegel, M.P.H., of the American Cancer Society. The goal of the think tank, organized by NCI and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), was to identify research priorities that address important questions about the disease.Īlthough the participants discussed several different aspects of early-onset colorectal cancer-including prevention, treatment, and survivorship-identifying risk factors and causes for colorectal cancer in younger adults emerged as the top priority.
In September, more than 400 leading scientists from academia, industry, and government, along with patient advocates, gathered online to exchange ideas and information about colorectal cancer in younger adults. “And that’s important to learn more about because it may affect the treatment and survivorship of early-onset colon cancer.”
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“We don’t understand a lot about the causes, the biology, or how to prevent early onset of the disease,” said Phil Daschner, a program director in NCI’s Division of Cancer Biology.
This rapid increase is especially puzzling because the rate of colorectal cancer has plummeted among older adults-largely due to regular colonoscopies and lower rates of smoking. Not only that, but more younger people are dying from the disease. Since the 1990s, the rate of colorectal cancer (which includes cancers of the colon and rectum) has more than doubled among adults younger than 50. Unfortunately, Dallmann's experience reflects a growing trend seen across the country. At just 40 years old, he was diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer. At his annual physical, it didn’t take long for his doctor to find the tumor. “I just figured it was my lot in life to live with blood in my stool, and returned to ignoring it,” he wrote.īut then he started feeling sharp pains in his pelvis and knew something was seriously wrong. He was told that the cause was tiny rips in his intestines, which can’t really be treated. “But, since it only happened occasionally and didn’t cause any pain, I didn’t give it much thought and never brought it up with my doctor,” he wrote i n a personal account of his experience.Ī few years later, when the bleeding became more frequent and intense, he decided to get it checked out. Doug Dallmann was in his early thirties when he first noticed blood in his stool.
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