New Delhi, December 12 (IANS). A study has revealed that the incidence of early colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as colon cancer, among adults aged 25-49 years is increasing rapidly across the world. This rate in India is the lowest among 50 countries.
Research published in the journal The Lancet Oncology has shown that early-stage ‘CRC’ is on the rise in 27 out of 50 countries/regions around the world. Of these, 20 showed rapid growth in early-stage CRC. In 14 other countries, including the U.S., rates are rising among young adults, while plateauing among people age 50 and older.
India, on the other hand, has seen the lowest incidence rates in both infancy and older adults.
Dr. Hyuna Sung, senior principal scientist for cancer surveillance research at the American Cancer Society, said the increase in early-stage colorectal cancer is a global phenomenon. Sung said this trend was previously seen only in high-income Western countries, but has now become widespread.
The objective of the study was to examine contemporary CRC in younger versus older adults using data from 50 countries/territories up to 2017.
Chile, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Ecuador, Thailand, Sweden, Israel, and Croatia reported a faster increase in early CRC in men than in women. However, faster increases were seen among young women in England, Norway, Australia, Turkey, Costa Rica and Scotland.
Among the 13 countries with increasing trends in both age groups, the annual percentage increase was higher among the young than among the old in Chile, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, Croatia and Finland, and lower in Thailand, Martinique, Denmark, Costa Rica and Turkey, Ecuador. And it was similar in Belarus also.
Incidence rates of early CRC over the past five years were highest in Australia, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, the United States, and the Republic of Korea (14 to 17 per 100,000) and lowest in Uganda and India (4 per 100,000).
Sung stressed the need for innovative tools to prevent and control cancers linked to dietary habits, physical inactivity and excess body weight.
The expert called for raising awareness about this trend and the typical symptoms of early colorectal cancer in young people such as rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, change in bowel habits and unexplained weight loss .
–IANS
MKS/AS
