September 6, 2017 – Colorectal Cancer Deaths

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Anchor lead: There’s a disturbing rise in colorectal cancer deaths among younger people, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Americans under the age of fifty are seeing more deaths from colorectal cancer, a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, describes the data.

Nelson: The mortality in this age group from colorectal cancer actually declined until the year 2004, but then it’s increased about a percent per year ever since, and that increase is almost exclusively limited to white men. The mortality for African Americans colorectal cancer in that same age group has continued to decline. So there is something significant going on and if you look at risk factors for colorectal cancer many of them are related to diet. Are there dietary practices that are beginning to deliver more colorectal cancer in Caucasians?  :34

Nelson says screening remains the best strategy for now, especially in those with a family history of the disease. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.