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Rise Seen in Colorectal Cancer in Under-50 Adults (Update2)  

Colorectal cancer rates are rising in adults younger than 50 with the biggest jump, more than 5 percent, recorded in those ages 20 to 29, a study found.

People older than age 50 began getting tested routinely for the disease in the mid-1980s, leading to a 2.8 percent yearly decline from 1998 to 2005 in adult men overall, according to the American Cancer Society report. . . .

While tobacco and alcohol are potential risk factors for colorectal cancer, the researchers said they are unlikely to explain the rate increase because alcohol intake has edged down since 1981, and tobacco use takes at least 30 years to lead to colon cancer, the study said.

“I was alarmed reading this. I had no idea this was happening,” said Peter Gann, a physician and cancer epidemiologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine in a telephone interview. “The big news has been the decline in incidence. Of course, this is a population that is not screened so it wouldn’t be affected by screening.”

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