It's not just younger groups with rising colorectal cancer rates − older age groups are seeing increases too, according to a new study,
In the study, published on Oct. 27 in NEJM Evidence, researchers found rates are rising across all age groups up to 65 to 69. Incidence rates of colorectal cancer fell from 55.2 per 100,000 in 2000 to 36.7 in 2022, then rose to 38.3 in 2023, according to the study.
“There are many unique challenges when you're diagnosed with cancer at a young age, so it's important that we shine a spotlight on that problem,” Caitlin Murphy, study author and professor of pediatrics and public health sciences at the University of Chicago, said in a news release. “But in terms of understanding the root cause, I think our study shows
that we can consider that whatever might be causing colorectal cancer in younger people is now also causing it to increase in older people as well.”
The sharpest increase in incidence rates were among the 45 to 49 age group, with an increase of 12.76% annually from 2019 to 2023, according to the study. The study used data from the National Cancer Institute over a 20-year period.
The authors said this increase is likely driven by more screenings after national recommendations lowered the age to begin screening from 50 to 45.
“That means that screening is doing as we intend it to do – it’s catching cancer earlier,” Murphy added.
It does not explain, however, the rise in incidence overall or for other age-specific groups, the authors note, suggesting unknown risk factors may be offsetting screening gains.
Colorectal cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death among people under 50 in the United States, according to evidence from the American Cancer Society, published Jan. 22 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The evidence showed colorectal cancer jumped from the fifth-leading cancer death in the early 1990s to the first in 2023.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Colon cancer rates are rising in these age groups
