A deadly type of cancer is on the rise in young adults and we don’t know why

A deadly type of cancer is on the rise among younger adults in Canada and the United States according to new data from The American Cancer Society. 

Rates of colorectal cancer in patients under 50 years old rose by two percent between 2011 and 2019, but doctors have no idea why.

"We know rates are increasing in young people,” said Rebecca Siegal, the lead author of The American Cancer Society’s new research on colorectal cancer and the organization's senior scientific director for surveillance. 

“It's alarming to see how rapidly the whole patient population is shifting younger, despite shrinking numbers in the overall population," Siegal continued. 

"The trend toward more advanced disease in people of all ages is also surprising," The American Cancer Society researcher added. 

Doctors in Canada have also noticed a similar trend in the rise of colorectal cancer in Canadians according to Lauren Pelley of CBC News. 

“Top Canadian clinicians weren't shocked by the data, with similar trends north of the border as well,” Pelley wrote in a recent report on colorectal cancer in Canada. 

A 2019 study into colorectal cancer rates in Canadian adults found that it was on the rise among both genders, with women seeing a slightly higher rate of diagnosis. 

“The incidence of colorectal cancer among younger adults increased from 2006 to 2015 among men with an annual percentage change of 3.47% and from 2010 to 2015 among women with an annual percentage change of 4.45%,” the study’s authors wrote.

In May, The Canadian Cancer Society expected colorectal cancer to be the fourth most diagnosed cancer among Canadians in 2022, a terrifying statistic when you consider just how deadly this type of cancer can be for those who are diagnosed with it. 

“It is the second leading cause of death from cancer in men and the third leading cause of death from cancer in women,” The Canadian Cancer Society wrote on their website. 

Of the 24,300 Canadians diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2022, The Canadian Cancer Society said that 9400 would die from the disease—a number that represented 11% of all cancer deaths in Canada during that year. 

The most worrying part of all of this new data is that doctors don’t seem to know why rates among younger adults are on the rise in Canada and the United States. 

"We are all bewildered as to why younger patients are being diagnosed… and some with advanced and more aggressive disease," Dr. Christine Brezden-Masley, the director of the cancer program at Toronto’s Mount Sinai System, told CBC News. 

An unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, as well as smoking, and consumption of alcohol, could be some reasons why doctors were seeing younger adults with more colorectal cancer according to the Canadian Cancer Society’s Elizabeth Holmes.

Holmes spoke with Global News on March 3rd and said that the reported increase in colorectal cancer rates in adults under 50 was "certainly something that the cancer surveillance community [was] monitoring.”

Keeping healthy is the best way to avoid colorectal cancer according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can reduce your risk by “increasing physical activity, keeping a healthy weight, limiting alcohol consumption, and avoiding tobacco.”

Early detection is also very important. “Colorectal cancer screening can find precancerous polyps so they can be removed before they turn into cancer,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote on their website.