FROM ARTICLE (Just highlights. Not Full)...
"Colorectal cancer rates in younger people have surged in recent years. More troubling, most cases diagnosed are at an advanced stage and researchers aren’t sure what’s causing the cancers.
According to new statistics from the American Cancer Society, the proportion of colorectal cancer that occurred in people under age 55 doubled between 1995 and 2019, from 11% to 20%.
The numbers are climbing at an alarming rate. A study published in 2021, in JAMA, estimated that in just seven years, colorectal cancer will be the leading cause of cancer deaths in people ages 20–49.
The new statistics also showed advanced-stage diagnoses are climbing quickly in all colorectal cases in the U.S., jumping from 52% in the mid-2000s to 60% in 2019.
Most cases diagnosed in younger people are advanced stage cancers, said Ng. Advanced or stage 4 cancer is often cancer that can't be cured or doesn't go away completely with treatment, but can sometimes be controlled.
“This cancer type is particularly asymptomatic and can remain that way for a long time," said Dr. Folasade P. May, an associate professor of medicine in the University of California, Los Angeles Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases. "So the tumor can grow and grow and even spread before there are symptoms that prompt someone to seek medical attention.”
Known lifestyle risk factors including higher rates of obesity, younger people living more sedentary lifestyles than they used to, and eating diets rich in sugars and processed foods all likely contribute to the uptick.
“It isn’t just diet and lifestyle, there is something else,” Ng said in an interview. “We see so many young patients with colorectal cancer who follow very healthy lifestyles and diets.”
The driver is most certainly a combination of environmental factors, May said.
“When something is affecting people who have their birth years in common, then we know it’s something in the environment that has led this whole group of people to have higher rates,” she said.
The phenomenon is called the birth cohort effect.
The most common symptoms of colorectal cancer include:
..blood in the stool ..abdominal pain ..unintentional weight loss ..a change in bowel habits. ..Anemia, shortness of breath and fatigue could also be warning signs."