Colorectal cancer rates are rising significantly among people as young as 10 years old, new research shows. The findings shed more light on how colorectal cancer is increasingly affecting people under the age of 45—the age at which screenings are recommended to begin.
Maggie O’Neill is a health writer and reporter based in New York who specializes in covering medical research and emerging wellness trends, with a focus on cancer and addiction. Prior to her time at Health, her work appeared in the Observer, Good Housekeeping, CNN, and Vice. She was a fellow of the Association of Health Care Journalists’ 2020 class on Women’s Health Journalism and 2021 class on Cancer Reporting.
The study, which was presented in May at the Digestive Disease Week 2024 conference, found that incidence rates of colorectal cancer in people ages 10 to 44 have increased between 1999 and 2020, with the biggest jumps seen in those between the ages of 10 and 24. Here’s what experts had to say about the new research, what we know about colorectal cancer trends, and warning signs of the disease that should prompt a checkup, no matter your age.Colorectal cancer is still most common among older adults, but given reports of rising cases in younger people, Mohamed and his team wanted to further investigate incidence patterns in the U.S.
They tracked colorectal cancer incidence rates between 1999 and 2020 among people in seven different age cohorts, spanning from ages 10 to 44. For example, in 1999, about 14.6 in 100,000 people ages 40–44 developed colorectal cancer. In 2020, that number was 20 in 100,000. For the age 15–19 age group, incidence changed from 0.3 in 100,000 to 1.3 in 100,000 during that same time period.
In addition to investing in research on colorectal cancer risk factors in young people, people need to be more aware about the disease in general.like blood in the stool, constipation that goes on for months, thin stools, unexplained weight loss should be investigated with a colonoscopy, even in young people,” Kamath said.at age 45, having more open conversations about colorectal cancer can help people figure out if they need to start getting screened at a younger age, Kamath added.
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