A recent study revealed a significant rise in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers among young individuals.
A study published in JAMA Network Open reported updated incidence trends for pancreas cancer and colorectal cancer across the US.
Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study, which included data from the Surveillance, and Epidemiology to analyse incidence trends from 2000 to 2021.
During this time, 275,273 pancreatic and 1,215,200 colorectal cancer cases were detected.
Study authors stated, "The findings of this cohort study suggest that the incidence of pancreatic adenocarcinoma has increased among all age groups, whereas that of colorectal adenocarcinoma has increased among younger age groups."
"Clinicians should be aware of this trend when evaluating younger patients with relevant symptoms," they added.
Findings
For people aged between 15-34, the annual percentage changes (APCs) for pancreatic adenocarcinoma was 4.35%, which greatly exceeds that for the older age groups.
For colorectal adenocarcinoma, the APC in the younger individuals was 1.75%, in contrast to a sharp decline of -3.31% in individuals aged 55 years and above.
Furthermore, the study analysed trends by considering several other factors such as race and sex.
Pancreatic cancer incidence sharply rose in all racial groups. However, the APC was increased in men than women.
For colorectal cancer, incidence declined across all racial groups, with a great decline among white people (–2.96%) and black people (–2.87%).
