Incidence rate of late-stage colorectal cancer increasing in young people: U.S. study

Early-onset colorectal cancers may be becoming more common in young people between the ages of 20 and 39 years old, according to a new study, with the increase appearing more pronounced in Black and Hispanic populations.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, tracked increases in incidences of early-onset colorectal adenocarcinoma, specifically cases which had already progressed to a late stage of the cancer, reported in the U.S. between 2000 and 2016.

Early-onset refers to cancer in patients younger than 50 years of age, and colorectal adenocarcinoma is a type of cancer that starts in the large intestines and can spread from there. Colorectal cancer is the third-most common cancer in Canada.

Researchers found that the biggest increases were in distant-stage colorectal adenocarcinomas, and that the increases became more pronounced the younger the patients were.

This means that while there was a 48-per-cent increase from 2000 to 2016 in the incidence rate of rectal-only distant-stage adenocarcinoma in patients 30-39 years of age, there was a 133-per-cent increase in the same cancer in patients aged 20-29 years in that same time period.