November 20, 2014 – Colon Cancer Rise

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Anchor lead:  Colon cancer seems to be on the rise among younger people, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Colon cancer has been on the decline for some years now, as more people have been screened and precancerous lesions known as polyps removed before they become cancerous.  Now a recent study has crunched the data from various age groups and radically changes the picture.  Patrick Okolo, a colon cancer expert at Johns Hopkins, comments.

Okolo:  There’s a net decrease in colorectal cancer which looked like very good news however they looked at the data among different age strata in the United States and there was a very disturbing trend.  Among adults between 35 and 49 and those 20 to 35 the incidence, that is the number of new cases of colorectal cancer, whereas this is declining in all patients who are fifty and older, the opposite was seen in these two age groups, with the most dramatic increases seen in those 35 to 49.  :31

Okolo notes that these age groups are also not typically screened for the disease.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.