March is colorectal Cancer awareness month.
And according to new statistics,
the proportion of colorectal cancer
that occurred in people under the
age of 55 unfortunately doubled
between 1995 and 2019 from 11% to 20%.
Yeah, that's pretty drastic.
R9 health expert Doctor Coley joins
us this morning to break things down.
So we were just discussing about
how colon cancer is popping up
more and more in young people.
What are you seeing? Yeah,
you know, this is really alarming
because when I was in medical school,
we traditionally thought of colon cancer.
An old man's disease.
And now what we're seeing is a change
in our population levels where
we're seeing it in young people.
And not only are we seeing it in
young people, we're seeing more
advanced diagnosis in young people.
In fact, the studies tell
us that in about 5 years,
people under the age of 50,
it's going to be the leading
cause of cancer deaths.
So we know they just changed the age
from 50 is when you typically start
getting your regular screenings to 45.
Can we anticipate in the coming
years that might even drop lower?
Potentially yes, because we're
really worried about the why.
Here, you know, why is it that
young people are getting it?
And what we're seeing is that
if you were born after 1990,
your risk of having colon cancer
compared to somebody born in 1950 is
twice as high and your risk of having
rectal cancer is 4 times as high.
So this raises the question of
something called a birth cohort effect.
Is there something about these
people that they're all being exposed
to the same environmental toxin,
carcinogen, what have you that's
causing these increased rates?
And, and we don't yet know what that is.
Is it plastics?
Is it what we're eating?
Is it the pollution in the air?
We're not entirely sure,
but it's incredibly concerning.
Not entirely sure specifically what
that is, but pretty understood that
it is something we're consuming. No,
even that we don't yet know if
it's something in the environment
versus something we're eating now.
We know things like,
you know, red meat, alcohol,
obesity, lack of exercise,
certain things we do will certainly
increase our risk for colon cancer.
But why we're seeing now is a
surge in epidemic in young people.
That's a little bit of
that question mark there.
Yeah. And we were talking about.
The screening and possibly
dropping that down.
However, if there is colon
cancer that runs in your family,
you are going to be a candidate
to get screened.
You said 10 years prior to when
that family member was diagnosed.
That's exactly right.
So generally we we used to screen at 50,
now everyone is getting
screened starting at 45.
But if you have risk factors,
either hereditary cancer
syndromes or as you said Erica,
a family member that's had colon cancer,
then you need to talk to your
doctor because you may actually
need to start screening 10 years
before that family member had it.
So even the 20s and 30s potentially.
Now a lot of people are saying, ohh,
we're finding more cancer in young people
because we're screening younger people.
And and that's actually not true because
that's more of a recent phenomena.
And this has been happening
now for quite some years and
we're finding it more advanced.
If we were finding it in more young people,
we would imagine that we
would find it earlier.
Yeah, not later stage.
And to your point, you said something
that made my ears perk right up.
You said there were a lot of cases
that because they're not screened
so young that we're learning they
were missed ultimately in that way.
If for somebody that potentially could,
you know, have colorectal cancer,
is it possible that it presents
itself without symptoms?
Yes. And that's what makes
this disease so deadly because,
you know, think about your colon.
It's actually a hollow tube, right?
So if you've got a tumor
growing inside that tube,
your body's not going to declare it
until that tumor gets so big that
it's either bleeding into your colon
and you have blood in your stool,
it's causing it to push on some other organ
or causing you to have abdominal pain,
weight loss, causing systemic. Symptoms.
So a lot of our colon cancers,
in fact the majority are now being
diagnosed late stage, 60% of them.
And the unfortunate thing here is that
one out of three people eligible for
screening have not gotten their screenings.
Ohh wow.
So even the ones that are eligible.
Really.
Yes. Yes.
So this is something we need to take
seriously because all of us used to think,
oh, it's just an old person's disease.
Not anymore.
All right, well, really quickly
with a few seconds we have left.
What is your advice to anybody at
home just moving forward with this?
You know, I would say a couple of things.
One is clean up your act because
what you do does affect your risk.
And what you do early in life,
it can affect it later.
So try to live as healthy as you can.
Exercise, eat, right, lots of fiber,
not a lot of red meat,
not a lot of alcohol.
The second is really talk to your
doctor about your personal risk,
just like heart disease,
colon cancer, one of those things
that until we get ahead of it,
we are not going to change that
curve of morbidity and mortality.
And diagnosed early, it's curable,
but diagnosed late,
it can be fatal.
Well, Doctor Cole, we appreciate
you bringing this to the forefront.
And again, March is colorectal
Cancer Awareness month.
So everything you learned here from
Doctor Coley or you find online,
make sure you share with your friends.
Again, if you're 45 and up,
make sure you're getting
your regular screenings.
Dr. thank you.