Cancer Is Declining in Younger People, With One Exception

Cancer deaths are declining among people under 50—except for one unwanted exception. Colorectal cancer continues to rise, and it's now the leading cause of cancer death in this age group, reports NBC News. "It is absolutely an outlier," says Rebecca Siegel of the American Cancer Society, who led a large new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Scientists reviewed data on nearly 1.3 million cancer deaths in people under 50 from 1990 to 2023. In 1990, colorectal cancer ranked fifth as a cause of cancer death in that age group, but it's been rising steadily since—even as overall cancer death rates in people under 50 have fallen 44% since 1990.

• "We weren't expecting colorectal cancer to rise to this level so quickly, but now it is clear that this can no longer be called an old person's disease," says study co-author Ahmedin Jemal, per CNN.
• Breast cancer remains the second-leading cause of cancer death overall and the top killer of younger women, but its death rate is declining, about 1.4% annually.
• In 2023, 3,905 people ages 20 to 49 died of colorectal cancer, compared with 3,809 for breast cancer and 2,086 for brain and other nervous system cancers, per the Wall Street Journal.
• Why colorectal cancer is bucking the trend remains uncertain. Obesity, reduced physical activity, shifts in the gut microbiome, and diets heavy in ultraprocessed foods are all under scrutiny, but "other factors are at play," says Siegel.
• About 1 in 5 colorectal cancer cases now occurs in people 54 or younger, roughly double the share in 1995. That deaths are so high in younger people suggests their cases are not being detected until they are advanced.
• Experts urge younger adults not to dismiss symptoms such as blood in the stool or persistent abdominal pain and to follow screening guidelines, which call for routine testing starting at 45—and earlier for those at higher risk.