The rhetoric around colon cancer has often been that it only affects older people, but a recent report from the American Cancer Society has found the risk is growing in those under the age of 50.
According to the report, an estimated 20,000 people in the U.S. under the age of 50 will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, and around 3,750 young adults will die from the disease.
Medical experts are now advising younger adults to be on the lookout as the report says, “Colorectal cancer is rapidly shifting to diagnosis at a younger age.”
Dr. Catherine Van Loon, an associate professor and gastrointestinal oncologist at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and UCSF, has seen the growing trend firsthand, she shared with KCBS Radio’s “As Prescribed” just how serious the situation is.
Van Loon says that what’s most important for young people concerned about colon cancer is listening to their bodies. She says that younger people being diagnosed with colon cancer are often seeing symptoms first, unlike those who are older and diagnosed.
“There is an estimation that the vast majority of young-onset cases are presenting with symptoms. Over 80% of cases have associated symptoms at the time of diagnosis.” Van Loon said. “And because we’re not screening the population that’s younger than 45, oftentimes, these cancers are presenting at a much more advanced stage, which can be associated with a much worse prognosis.”
Typically, when people hit the age of 45, they begin screening for colon cancer frequently. Van Loon says this is done one of two ways, through “stool-based tests” or “direct visualization tests.”
But with what the doctor calls the “unscreened population,” symptoms are often appearing before screening is ever thought of, with the most common symptom being changes in bowel habits.
“So individuals who are noticing a change in the caliber of the stool certainly should seek medical attention,” she said. “In addition, blood in the stool or anemia or iron deficiency anemia. Also can be presenting symptoms less common abdominal pain present in some patients, but not all.”
But the higher number of young people being diagnosed with colon cancer isn’t the only thing doctors are seeing, but how the cancer develops.
“We’re also seeing a shift in the anatomic locations of tumors towards an increased propensity towards left-sided tumors and rectal tumors,” Van Loon said.
While there isn’t a clear answer as to why colon cancer is becoming more common in those under 50, Van Loon says there has to be something “in our environment that is causing this shift.”
“Nobody really understands what that environmental factor is, but there is a variety of speculation, and I think the leading hypotheses point to changes in diet in our population,” she said.
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