Colorectal cancer - the disease is getting younger and younger
USA At the age of 35, Nikki Lawson received the great shock of her life when the doctor informed her that she had colorectal cancer, ie colon cancer.
Over the past few years, Nikki often has a nagging feeling in her stomach, wanting to go to the bathroom, sometimes with blood in her stool. Going to the hospital, the doctor diagnosed a stomach ulcer and prescribed medicine to take home.
"That was around the time actor Chadwick Boseman died. I found myself experiencing symptoms similar to Boseman but I didn't think this was what I was going through," Lawson said. Chadwick Boseman, actor from the movie Black Panther, died at the age of 43 of colon cancer, August 2020.
Lawson thought he should change his diet. She stopped eating red meat and increased her intake of fruits and vegetables. After a while, she lost a lot of weight and attributed this to the diet. However, on physical examination, the doctor said that the amount of iron in her body was very low. Finally, Lawson was diagnosed with stage III rectal cancer, in a growing group of young cancer patients in the US. The rate of colon cancer diagnoses in 18 to 55 year olds has steadily increased since the 1990s.
Dr. Steven Lee-Kong, chief of colorectal surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, noticed a significant increase in the number of his patients developing rectal cancer in their 30s and 40s. His youngest patient is 21 years old. Young people tend to develop tumors on the left side, while older patients tend to develop tumors on the right side.
A cancer patient in the hospital. Photo : Pexel
Dr. Subhankar Chakraborty, a gastroenterologist with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, said that diet and lifestyle are one of the reasons for the increased number of colon cancer cases. "Smoking, lack of physical activity, alcohol consumption, overweight, obesity, increased consumption of red meat can lead to cancer," Dr. Chakraborty said, collectively calling diet, environment and lifestyle . These three factors play a huge role.
The rate of inflammatory bowel disease among young people is increasing, which is also a disease that can lead to colorectal cancer.
Several researchers have investigated the link between cancer and obesity in American children. According to Dr. William Karnes, a gastroenterologist and director of the colorectal department at the UCI Health Institute for Gastroenterology, the increased number of cancer cases correlates with the prevalence of obesity (doubling over 30 years) in children. em. Being overweight currently affects 20% of people under the age of 20.
The average young person consumes less healthy food, preferring fast food, processed food, refined sugar. "These foods contain higher levels of carcinogens, mutagens," said Dr. Shane Dormady, oncologist at El Camino Health.
According to him, obesity in children and adolescents has become an epidemic in the US. In overweight people, especially young people, vulnerable cells and DNA can be affected, creating a risk of developing cancer.
Another possibility that the number of cancer cases in young people is increasing is due to more developed diagnostic and screening work. According to Dr. Dormady, companies have launched colorectal cancer testing kits at home, enabling patients to detect the disease early. In 2021, the US Preventive Services Task Force lowers the recommended age for screening from 50 to 45 years.
"There are patients who are screened early by endoscopy, by advanced technology that detects tumor cell DNA in stool samples. Sometimes this changes the statistics, causing the incidence rate. disease increases more rapidly. However, in-depth analyzes show that this is actually the result of earlier detection and broader screening," said Dr. Dormady.
According to Dr. Chakraborty, identifying the cause of the higher number of cancer cases in young people will help the medical community better understand the disease. From there, doctors have more individualized risk assessments for each young patient.
"Most people with colorectal cancer have no family history of the disease, so they're not aware of the risk until symptoms appear," he says.