CRC Incidence Shifting to Younger Adults, More Advanced Disease

WEDNESDAY, March 1, 2023 (HealthDay News) — The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) is shifting to younger individuals and is being diagnosed at more advanced stages, according to a report published online March 1 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

Rebecca L. Siegel, M.P.H., from the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, and colleagues provided updated statistics for CRC based on the incidence from population-based cancer registries and mortality from the National Center for Health Statistics.

The authors note that about 153,020 individuals will be diagnosed with CRC in 2023 and 52,550 will die, including 19,550 cases and 3,750 deaths among those younger than 50 years. There was slowing of the decline in CRC incidence from 3 to 4 percent annually during the 2000s to 1 percent annually during 2011 to 2019; this was partly due to a 1 to 2 percent increase among those aged younger than 55 years since the mid-1990s. From 1995 to 2019, there was an increase seen in the proportion of cases among those younger than 55 years, from 11 to 20 percent. Since about 2010, there was an increase in incidence for those aged younger than 65 years by about 2 to 3 and 0.5 to 3 percent annually for regional-stage and distant-stage disease, respectively, reversing the shift to earlier-stage diagnosis seen during 1995 through 2005.

“We know rates are increasing in young people, but it’s alarming to see how rapidly the whole patient population is shifting younger, despite shrinking numbers in the overall population,” Siegel said in a statement.

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Colorectal Cancer Statistics, 2023