A recent American study revealed an increase in the number of people with colon cancer in the age groups under 55 years, adding that the most worrisome thing is that most of the diagnosed cases are in an advanced stage, without knowing the causes of the infection.
The American Cancer Society reported that the incidence of colorectal cancer in people under the age of 55 in the United States doubled between 1995 and 2019, from 11% to 20%.
Of the approximately 1.3 million people in the United States living with colorectal cancer in 2019, 273,800 were under the age of 55, she said.
The new study showed that advanced-stage disease diagnoses are increasing rapidly in all colorectal cases in the United States, with the rate jumping from 52% in the mid-2000s to 60% in 2019.
What is colorectal cancer?
Colorectal cancer is a type of cancer that begins in the large intestine. It usually begins as small, non-cancerous clumps of cells that form inside the colon, and over time may become malignant cancers.
Hala Al-Sakhiri, a specialist in medical oncology and chemical treatment, explained, in a previous interview with Al-Araby, that rectal cancer is a malignant tumor that results from a mutation in a strain over a period of ten years, and it develops gradually until cancerous cells appear in it, and the tumor grows something. Little by little.
The most common symptoms of colorectal cancer include:
- blood in the stool
- Stomach ache
- Weight loss
- A change in bowel habits
- Anemia, shortness of breath, and fatigue are warning signs
Wrong or late diagnosis
And a 2017 study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that people born after 1990 are twice as likely to develop colon cancer as people born in 1950.
And the American “NBC” network stated that “the number of infections is escalating at an alarming rate,” as a study published in 2021 in the medical journal “JAMA” estimated that in just seven years, colorectal cancer will be the leading cause of cancer deaths in people who Their ages range from 20 to 49 years.
The director of the Colorectal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Kimi Ng, told NBC that most of the cases diagnosed in young people today are advanced-stage cancers.
Stage IV cancer often cannot be cured, or does not go away completely with treatment, but it can sometimes be controlled.
Research indicates that if caught early while colon cancer is still localized, the five-year survival rate is about 90%.
In this context, Dr. Follside May, assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, told the network: “This type of cancer does not show symptoms in particular, and it can remain that way for a long time; and the tumor can grow and spread before the symptoms that push the person to seek medical attention.”
She added that many young people do not know that colorectal cancer can affect them, and they may not be able to correctly diagnose the symptoms.
Previous research has indicated that misdiagnosis is common among young people with colon cancer.
Scientists believe that a combination of environmental factors, as well as lifestyles, including high rates of obesity, young adults who lead more sedentary lifestyles than they used to, and eating diets high in sugar and processed foods, contribute to higher rates of this type of cancer.