Colorectal cancer burden shifting to younger individuals

The burden of colorectal cancer is swiftly shifting to younger individuals as incidence increases in young adults and declines in older age groups, according to the latest edition of Colorectal Cancer Statistics 2020, a publication of the American Cancer Society. A sign of the shift: the median age of diagnosis has dropped from age 72 in the late 1980s to 66 during 2015-2016; in other words, half of all new diagnoses are now in people 66 or younger.