After decades of decline, rectal cancer is rising in all adult age groups, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society. What’s extra notable is how it’s impacting rates in younger people.
In the study, published Monday in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, researchers found rectal cancer incidence increased by 1% per year from 2018 to 2022.
And among all colorectal cancer diagnoses (which include both colon and rectal cancer), rectal cancer now accounts for about 1/3, which is up from about 1/4 in the mid-2000s.
These rectal cancer increases are also driving numbers of overall colorectal cancer in adults under 65, the report found.
More specifically, researchers said colorectal cancer incidence is rising 3% per year in people 20 to 49 and 0.4% in those 50 to 64.
“It’s clear that colorectal cancer can no longer be called an old person’s disease,” Ahmedin Jemal, senior vice president of surveillance, prevention and health services research at the American Cancer Society, said in a news release. “We must double down on research to pinpoint what is driving this tsunami of cancer in generations born since 1950.”
Younger people are also getting diagnosed at more advanced stages. For example, about three out of four adults under 50 with colorectal cancer are diagnosed when the disease is at an advanced stage, the study found.
The good news is some age groups are seeing a decline in colorectal cancer incidence. For those above 65, there was a 2.5% decrease per year, for example.
Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer-related death in people under 50, according to the American Cancer Society, and the second most common cancer death overall.
The uptick in disease is likely due to “something we’re doing or some other exposure,” lead author Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society, said in a release.
“We need to not only significantly increase research efforts to understand the cause but also circumvent these deaths through earlier detection by educating clinicians and the general public,” Siegel added.
According to the ACS Cancer Facts & Figures 2024 report, around 55% of colorectal cancers might be traced to a few risk factors, such as lack of exercise, excessive smoking and alcohol consumption, excess body weight, eating lots of red and processed meats and not consuming enough calcium, whole grains and fiber.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rectal cancer is on the rise. Here’s how it’s affecting young people.
Reporting by Sara Moniuszko, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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