In March, a disturbing study from the American Cancer Society found that rates of colorectal cancer (i.e. cancers of the colon and rectum) among millennials is on the rise in the U.S. Now, a follow-up study found that a growing number of people under the age of 55 are dying of colorectal cancer, suggesting that young people definitely need to take this cancer seriously.
The new study, which is published in JAMA, analyzed causes of death for people aged 20 to 54 from 1970 through 2014, and broke it down by race. The researchers found that amount of deaths among younger Americans due to colorectal cancer have increased by 1 percent each year from 2004 to 2014. By 2014, the colorectal mortality rate for that age group was 4.3 percent. While that's still low, it's concerning that it's increasing at all. However, this effect is only happening with white individuals—colorectal cancer mortality rates are falling among black individuals—which is further confusing doctors.
“The question really is: Why this is happening?,” Anton Bilchik, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of surgery and chief of gastrointestinal research at John Wayne Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, tells SELF. It’s well known that there are racial disparities in cancer care, he says—research has found that African Americans tend to be diagnosed with more advanced stages of cancer and have poorer outcomes. But this study reports the opposite for colorectal cancer in younger people. One possible factor could be diet, as Dr. Bilchik says it’s “possible” that whites eat more processed food, meat, or smoked foods, which have been linked to higher rates of colon cancer, but again, no one really knows.
No comments:
Post a Comment