U.S colorectal cancer rates are increasing in populations under 55, despite colonoscopy screening rates remaining similar, according to an American Cancer Society analysis reported on by MedPage Today.
ACS researchers published their findings in the Journal of Medical Screening. They examined self-reported past-year colonoscopy rates for 53,175 respondents between 40 and 54 years old from 2000 to 2015.
What you should know:
1. CRC screening rates in the 40-44 year age group were stable (2.3 percent to 3.5 percent). In the 45-49 year age group rates rose from 2.5 percent to 5.2 percent, and in the 50-54 year age group rates rose from 5 percent to 14.1 percent.
2. CRC incidence rates in the 40-44 year age group increased by 28 percent; in the 45-49 year age group rates increased 15 percent; and in the 50-54 year age group rates increased 17 percent.
Researchers recommended that future studies monitor colonoscopy rates in the 45-49 year old age range and examine how lowering the recommended CRC screening rate from 50 to 45 years could affect CRC incidence rates.
"We found the changes in past-year colonoscopy rates did not fully align with the rise in overall and distant-stage CRC incidence rates in all three age groups during the corresponding period," Stacey Fedewa, PhD, of ACS's Department of Surveillance & Health Services Research, told MedPage Today.