New: Colorectal Cancer Screening Should Start at Age 45, Not 50, Amer. Cancer Society Says
Washington Post, 'Colorectal Cancer Screening Should Start at Age 45, Not 50, American Cancer Society Says,' 5/30/18
The American Cancer Society, responding to a rise in colorectal cancer rates among younger people, is now recommending that adults undergo screening for the disease beginning at age 45 rather than 50.
The organization, which announced the change in its guidelines Wednesday, said extensive analysis showed that lowering the starting age for screening would save lives. The recommendations apply to adults who are at average risk of the disease; this includes most people in the United States. George Chang, professor of surgical oncology and health services research at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, welcomed the change. "We see a lot of younger patients," he said.
The reason the rates are rising "is the million-dollar question," he said, noting that factors may include increasing rates of obesity, a lack of exercise and the consumption of processed foods. Over the past two decades, the incidence of colorectal cancer has declined steadily among people older than 54, largely because screening has increased, allowing the identification and removal of polyps that can become malignant.
But since 1994, there has been a 51 percent increase in the rate of the disease among those younger than 50, and the death rate also has begun to rise. A recent analysis found that adults born around 1990 have twice the risk of colon cancer and four times the risk of rectal cancer, compared with adults born around 1950, the cancer group said.
As they age, younger adults will continue to have an elevated risk, compared with previous generations, studies suggest.
When the cancer society started to update its recommendations, it initially focused on racial groups that have higher death rates from the disease, primarily African Americans. But when the data pointed to a "persistent increase" among younger people across demographic groups, the society decided to recommend younger screening ages for all adults, said Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer for the group.
Experts said many primary-care physicians are likely to adopt the new recommendations and begin referring younger patients for screening. But not everyone agrees with a starting age of 45. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel that evaluates screening tests, decided a few years ago not to lower its recommended age from 50.
It concluded that data was mixed and that a younger starting age would provide only a "modest" benefit.
The cancer society, in coming to a different decision, extended the analyses used by the task force and incorporated recent data on the rising incidence of the disease among younger people. That produced a result that showed the lifesaving potential of earlier screening, the group said. People with a family history of colorectal cancer are already advised to start getting screening tests before age 50.
Colon cancer is the fourth-most-common cancer diagnosis among adults in the United States. The cancer society estimates that in 2018, more than 97,000 Americans will be diagnosed with colon cancer and more than 43,000 will be diagnosed with rectal cancer. About 50,000 people are expected to die of colorectal cancer this year...MORE..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/30/colorectal-cancer-screening-should-start-at-age-45-not-50-american-cancer-society-says/?utm_term=.d1427f4c0f04
Related: *Colorectal Cancer Rates Rising Sharply Among Gen X and Millennials* The Washington Post, Feb. 28, 2017
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/02/28/colorectal-cancer-rates-rising-sharply-among-gen-x-and-millennials/?utm_term.92f6426a9558
- Stefanie Joho, who was diagnosed with colon cancer at 22, has been in remission since February 2016, thanks to an immunotherapy drug that targets a genetic mutation. (Michelle Gustafson for The Washington Post)
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