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Colorectal cancer rates rising sharply among millennials

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Posted 2/28/2017 8:52 PM (GMT 0)
/www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/02/28/colorectal-cancer-rates-rising-sharply-among-gen-x-and-millennials/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_tyh-cancer-1025am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.cc772a260e08

"Rates of colon and rectal cancer, which overall have been declining for decades in the United States, are instead rising sharply among young and middle-aged adults, according to a new study that startled researchers.

"The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that between the mid-1980s and 2013, colon cancer rates increased about 1 to 2 percent per year for people in their 20s and 30s. Rectal cancer rates climbed even faster in recent decades, at about 3 percent per year for people in their 20s and 30s and 2 percent annually for those ages 40 to 54."
Posted 2/28/2017 11:54 PM (GMT 0)
they should not allow these publications of relative risk and rates without requiring an absolute baseline.

maybe the incidence RATE did increase by 2% a year over 10 years in 20-29 year olds - but the baseline rate of 6 per 100,000 is .006%. so even if it doubled (50% increase in incidence) it would only be a risk of .012%

these trends are important to epidemiologists, but unnecessarily alarming for a public that might think the incidence risk was going up 12% over 10 years, when in fact even after increases, the risk is still less than 1/10 of 1% for 20-29 year olds.
Posted 3/1/2017 12:23 AM (GMT 0)
Does anyone know what the revised rates are for UC at 5, 10, 20, and 30 years after diagnosis?

My GI said that rates for UC patients have been decreasing with time due to better monitoring.
Posted 3/1/2017 12:35 AM (GMT 0)
maybe the incidence RATE did increase by 2% a year over 10 years in 20-29 year olds - but the baseline rate of 6 per 100,000 is .006%. so even if it doubled (50% increase in incidence) it would only be a risk of .012%

the Article said...
By comparing different generations at similar ages, it found that people born around 1990 have double the risk of colon cancer and quadruple the risk of rectal cancer of people born around 1950...

American Cancer Society researcher Rebecca Siegel, who led the study, said that earlier work had signaled a growing incidence of colorectal cancer among the groups known as Gen X and millennials. But the magnitude of the increase identified “was just very shocking,” she said.”

I think what is alarming researchers is that these numbers don't bode well for the future. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 95,000 new cases of colon cancer and almost 40,000 new cases of rectal cancer will be diagnosed in 2017.

The rate of cancer used to be in a steady decrease, and is still decreasing for us old folks, but for younger people the rate has been steadily increasing for years. If the cancer researchers are "shocked" then maybe we should take note of it.

Post Edited (IamCurious) : 2/28/2017 5:41:05 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 3/1/2017 2:17 AM (GMT 0)
epidemiological it is alarming. my concerns that changes in rates of things with low base incidence are hard for public to accurately place in context.

I think "shocked" is a journalistic affectation. I am sure they are concerned. Some is from better detection and classification, but some is undoubtedly a real increase in response to environmental changes - both lower exposure to pathogens at early ages, and to increased toxins.

but heart disease is much more likely to strike people down than CRC.

I do not argue against taking note. I groan at poor journalism. An extra sentence or two could have made the low base rate much more clear.
Posted 3/1/2017 2:25 AM (GMT 0)
I am sure they will eventually find something they are putting in our food is causing this. The only good thing about UC is we are screened so often.

Thankfully the treatment for cancer is so much better than it was even 15 years ago. My mom is a ICU RN and when I get a bit panicky about what if I get colon cancer she shrugs and says then they would catch it early because you get yearly colonoscopies. She said some people like Tony Snow get extremely aggressive cancers, but most people get cancer, have surgery, some need extra treatment, but then they go on with their lives.
I think our old sheriff who was very close to our family had one of those. He felt ill, went to the doctor and they found lung cancer. Four months later, he was gone. He went from healthy to he was falling and unable to get up within two months and had to be put in a nursing home. A scary young friend died in months from breast cancer. She was too young for mammograms.
There are always the terrifying aggressive cancers that kill you, but there is that risk of anything in life. Our local news anchor had a major heart attack and nearly died. He's 33 years old, and a young author buddy had a major stroke.
Posted 3/1/2017 2:42 AM (GMT 0)
The number of people getting all types of cancer these days is alarming. The young, middle aged and old. It's very disturbing.
Posted 3/1/2017 4:00 PM (GMT 0)
I am not really surprised when you think about what is happening to our food chain!!! Pesticides have been linked to a wide range of human health hazards, ranging from short-term impacts such as headaches and nausea to chronic impacts like cancer.
Posted 3/2/2017 1:09 PM (GMT 0)

21Jellybeans said...
I am sure they will eventually find something they are putting in our food is causing this.

Here is one possible explanation:

1. More and more crops are grown to be resistant to Roundup (active ingredient glyphosate). The adoption of glyphosate-tolerant corn is 89 percent of U.S. corn acreage in 2016. Based on USDA survey data, glyphosate-tolerant soybeans went from 17 percent of U.S. soybean acreage in 1997 to 94 percent in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Plantings of glyphosate-tolerant cotton expanded from about 10 percent of U.S. acreage in 1997 to 89 percent in 2015 and 2016. Of course some of that Roundup also gets into our water supply.

2. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has labeled glyphosate a probable carcinogen and it is banned in Europe.
Posted 3/2/2017 5:35 PM (GMT 0)
And STDs.

q
Posted 3/2/2017 6:31 PM (GMT 0)
There's millions of possible reasons what we breath, drinking water contamination, chems leaking from plastic containers, clothing we wear, and who knows what else. Not sure why it always comes down to Big Food being the only possible cause to everything bad that occurs. So many already eat healthy yet come down with UC or colorectal cancer. Popular villan i guess haha.
Posted 3/4/2017 3:49 AM (GMT 0)
And STDs.

Experts in the article said these colorectal cancers are not related to the human papilloma virus. HPV is associated with squamous cell cancers, which are common in HPV-related anal cancer, but not in colorectal cancers.
Posted 3/4/2017 4:00 AM (GMT 0)

IamCurious said...

21Jellybeans said...
I am sure they will eventually find something they are putting in our food is causing this.

Here is one possible explanation:

1. More and more crops are grown to be resistant to Roundup (active ingredient glyphosate). The adoption of glyphosate-tolerant corn is 89 percent of U.S. corn acreage in 2016. Based on USDA survey data, glyphosate-tolerant soybeans went from 17 percent of U.S. soybean acreage in 1997 to 94 percent in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Plantings of glyphosate-tolerant cotton expanded from about 10 percent of U.S. acreage in 1997 to 89 percent in 2015 and 2016. Of course some of that Roundup also gets into our water supply.

2. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has labeled glyphosate a probable carcinogen and it is banned in Europe.

I was just telling all of this to my mom today. She had no idea. Sad thing is even the seeds we buy in the store have them, not that it ever saved any of my plants from the bugs.
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