Colorectal cancer rates rising among younger adults, study finds
Newsy
As lung cancer rates see a significant decline, colorectal cancer rates are rising as doctors urge the public to get screened.
There are fewer people in the U.S. dying from cancer overall. That's the good news. The bad news is that cancer patients tend to be younger these days.
According to a new study published by the American Cancer Society, progress in preventing six of the top 10 cancers is lagging. Cancer diagnosis rates increased by 12% among people under age 50 between 2000 and 2019.
One major factor is increasing incidents of colorectal cancer.
"If we went back to the 1990s, it was the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in both men and women," said Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer with the American Cancer Society. "But currently, based on our new data, it's the No. 1 leading cause of cancer death in men under the age of 50 and No. 2 in women. So it's past lung cancer in both men and women and only behind breast cancer in women. So it's really a fairly dramatic change."
The trend in colorectal cancer has been one measured by the American Cancer Society in previous reports.
