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Rising rates of colorectal cancer found in nearly all age groups

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Rising rates of colorectal cancer found in nearly all age groups

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Colorectal cancer rates are rising across younger and older age groups, according to a study published in NEJM Evidence.

Colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths overall in the U.S., ranks first in adults younger than 50 years. The new study found that rising incidence now extends beyond younger adults to nearly all age groups, which has implications for the health care system as more diagnoses will create a greater demand for treatment and survivorship care.

Caitlin Murphy, Ph.D., MPH, professor of pediatrics and public health sciences at the University of Chicago, and her colleagues used the most recent data from the National Cancer Institute to examine incidence rates of colorectal cancer over a 20-year period. The data showed that the age-adjusted incidence rate fell from 55.2 per 100,000 in 2000 to 36.7 in 2022, then rose to 38.3 in 2023.

"This is the first time that we have seen an increase in the overall rate in more than 20 years," Murphy said, noting that for decades, incidence rates had been declining. This latest study shows that the rates are rising across all age groups up to 65–69.

As an epidemiologist studying colorectal cancer trends, she anticipated that a tidal wave of colorectal cancer rates would occur in older populations in addition to those under 50. She describes this phenomenon as the " birth cohort effect ," whereby people born in the 1960s and later face higher risk of colorectal cancer as they reach middle age and older adulthood.


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