Under-55s Account for 20% of Colorectal Cancer Cases as Doctors Push Colonoscopy Screening
Updated
Updated · Relevant Radio · Jun 20
Under-55s Account for 20% of Colorectal Cancer Cases as Doctors Push Colonoscopy Screening
1 articles · Updated · Relevant Radio · Jun 20
Summary
People under 55 now make up 20% of colorectal cancer diagnoses, a sharp shift for a disease long associated mainly with older adults, gastroenterologist Jay Bosco said.
Lifestyle factors including diet, inactivity, smoking and alcohol use may be driving that rise, and a Harvard T.H. Chan study linked long-lasting gut microbiome patterns to higher colorectal cancer risk even 10 years after adenoma removal.
Colorectal cancer often starts as a polyp, and polyps are found in about 40% of colonoscopies; removing one cuts future cancer risk by 60% to 75%, Bosco said.
Colonoscopy remains the "gold standard" because it can both detect and prevent cancer, while blood and stool tests are less effective and can produce false positives that still lead to follow-up colonoscopies.
Bosco's bottom-line message was to get screened by some method, as earlier detection and polyp removal offer one of the clearest ways to curb the disease's rise in younger adults.