Sharp Rise in Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer Mortality Among Young US Adults: Daily Dose

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Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

On November 1, 2024, we reported on research presented at the 2024 annual scientific meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology that was designed to better understand the age at which deaths are occurring and at what stage of colorectal cancer (CRC) disease.

The study

Researchers compared early-onset CRC (EO-CRC) mortality between young (age 20 to 44 years) and younger-age (45 to 54 years) cohorts across different stages of clinical diagnosis. They collected data on EO-CRC age-adjusted mortality rates between 2000 and 2020 from the database of the National Center of Health Statistics of the CDC. For stage-specific incidence-based mortality rates, the team collected data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 22 (SEER 22) database from 2004 to 2020. Stage at diagnosis was divided between early (in situ, localized) and late (regional, distant).

The findings

• Rates in EO-CRC mortality decreased between 2002 and 2005 and increased between 2005 and 2022 (annual percentage change [APC], 0.87).

• In patients aged 45-54 years, mortality decreased between 2000-2005 and increased afterward (APC, 0.87).

• For the youngest participants, aged 20 to 44 years, a steady increase in EO-CRC mortality was seen across the study period, between 2000 and 2022 (APC, 0.93).

• When comparing the age cohorts, the increase was greater among the 20- to 44-years-old vs the 45- to 54-year-olds, with nonidentical, nonparallel data and an average APC (AAPC)-difference of 0.85 (P < .01).

Authors' comment

"EO-CRC mortality has been alarmingly rising in the US over the past two decades, most notably in patients aged 20-44 years...These findings reinforce the need for increased advocacy for CRC screening in younger patients aiming to improve outcomes."

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