A recent study published on Oct. 27 in NEJM Evidence reveals that colorectal cancer rates are climbing not only among young adults, but across all age groups up to 65 to 69 in the United States. Researchers observed that overall incidence rates fell from 55.2 per 100,000 in 2000 down to 36.7 in 2022, before ticking back up to 38.3 in 2023.
Study author Caitlin Murphy, a professor of pediatrics and public health sciences at the University of Chicago, noted in a news release that while there are many unique challenges when diagnosed at a young age, the study shows that whatever might be driving the trends impacts a broader population. Murphy added that screening plays a role by catching cancer earlier, though it does not explain the rise in incidence overall or for other age-specific groups, 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 on Jan. 22 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That evidence showed colorectal cancer jumped from the fifth-leading cancer death in the early 1990s to the first in 2023.
