Latest news with #RebeccaSiegel
Business Insider
04-08-2025
- Health
- Business Insider
For once, good news: More colon cancers are getting caught early as 40-somethings line up for colonoscopies
Colon cancer researchers are crying tears of joy this morning. New data released today suggests that more early-stage colon cancer cases are being detected in younger people across the US, before it's too late. "It's the first time we've actually had really good news," cancer epidemiologist Rebecca Siegel, the senior scientific director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society, told Business Insider, shortly before the new report was released in the medical journal JAMA on Monday. "I start tearing up, because it's so exciting to see earlier diagnosis in these young people." For decades, Siegel has been watching as the rate of aggressive, late-stage young colon cancer cases has gone up and up in people under 50. She meets young survivors speaking out at conferences, "and then they're gone." "It's so sad," she said. In 2018, to respond to the trend of colon cancer hitting more folks under the age of 50, the ACS changed its colon cancer screening recommendations, telling people to start looking for colon cancer earlier, at age 45. But it wasn't until 2021 when the US Preventative Services Task Force made the same recommendation, triggering an insurance mandate for colonoscopies and stool testing. Today, just three years after the USPSTF switch, researchers are already seeing the benefits of earlier detection. More adults in the 45- to 49-year-old age group are getting screened, and more cases of very early-stage, highly treatable, and not-yet- symptomatic colon cancer are being found. From 2004 to 2019, colon cancer detection rates in this age group increased about 1% every year. After the ACS recommendation change in 2018, from 2019 to 2022 the detection rates surged by 12% year after year. In 2019, only 21% of people aged 45-49 had done any colon cancer screening — either a stool test or a colonoscopy. By 2023, more than 33% of adults in that age bracket had gotten checked. Most of the new cases were local-stage tumors, meaning these cancers were found before they'd spread to other parts of the body. "Lives are being saved," Siegel said. How to know whether you should get a colon cancer test When cancer is diagnosed earlier, it's treated more quickly and easily, and survival rates skyrocket. Still, fewer than 40% of people under the age of 50 do any kind of colon cancer screening. And most who do have private insurance. There is a cheap and easy solution for this that's already available: home testing with a stool kit like FIT. It costs just a few dollars and can be mailed to people right at home, requiring no prep work. "For this 45- to 49-year age group, these are young active people raising young families," Siegel said. "So stool testing is a great option." Siegel said that most people under the recommended screening age of 45 do not need to be screened for colon cancer, but she said there are a few groups that should talk to their doctor even before their 45th birthday: People with a family history of colorectal cancer People who are seeing troubling signs that may be early indicators of colon cancer, like: Signs of rectal bleeding (could be blood in the toilet or on your toilet paper) Changes in bowel habits (more constipation or more diarrhea than what's normal for you, over a period of several weeks) Persistent abdominal pain Iron deficiency anemia, which can be determined by a blood test "I tell people if you have these symptoms and your doctor doesn't do anything about it, follow up. Get a second opinion. Be your own advocate," Siegel said. "I have heard so many stories where the next doctor found cancer."
Hindustan Times
04-08-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
A Turning Point in Colon Cancer: Young People Are Finding It Earlier
People under age 50 have been appearing increasingly at doctor's offices in the past few decades, complaining of blood in their stool or bowel or of abdominal trouble or unexplained weight loss. The diagnosis: colorectal cancer . And by that time, it was often too late. But that paradigm is finally starting to shift, at least for patients in their 40s. There has been a jump in people aged 45 to 49 getting screened for colorectal cancer, after recent medical guidelines lowered the screening age for those at average risk. As a result, the disease is being caught sooner, when it is more curable and the treatment is less grueling, according to new research from the American Cancer Society. The recent screening recommendations designed to catch cases sooner appear to be working. 'It's thrilling to see this,' said Rebecca Siegel, an epidemiologist at the ACS and an author of the new research. 'It means fewer deaths and higher quality of life for people who are diagnosed.' The findings come in a flurry of research published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Colorectal cancer screening in the U.S. for adults age 45 to 49 increased by 62% from 2019 to 2023, according to one ACS paper. Early-stage diagnoses then surged, including a 50% relative increase from 2021 to 2022, according to another ACS report. A trial of more than 20,000 people in the same age bracket was published by a separate group of researchers, showing that testing uptake increases when people are mailed stool tests by default, versus when they are asked if they want a test or a colonoscopy. Screening rates in the trial were low, however, with 19% of people in the trial overall opting to get screened. 'We probably shouldn't be wasting time asking patients first; we should send them what they need,' said Dr. Folasade May, the trial's senior author and a gastroenterologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. 'We have a long way to go.' Colorectal cancer rates have been rising for people under age 50 since the 1990s, and the disease is now the leading cause of cancer death among men in that group. Researchers are investigating everything from diet and lifestyle to environmental contaminants, to figure out why colorectal and other cancers are rising in younger adults. The ACS in 2018 started recommending that people with average risk as young as 45 years old get screened for colorectal cancer, down from the previous start of age 50. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force followed in 2021; their guidelines carry particular weight among primary-care providers and often lead to health-insurance coverage. Suddenly, millions of people were newly overdue for screening. For people in that 45-to-49 age bracket, cases jumped, going from about a 1% increase in the incidence rate each year since 2004 to a 12% annual rise from 2019 to 2022, the data show. The rise was driven by diagnoses of early-stage disease. A post-Covid rebound in people seeking healthcare could contribute to some of the increase, researchers said, but the change in screening guidance is likely the bigger factor. The trend looks similar to what happened among people ages 50 and above in the late 1990s, after screening was first recommended for them, said Caitlin Murphy, a cancer epidemiologist and professor of pediatrics at the University of Chicago, who wasn't involved in the studies. It will still take time to see what the impact on deaths looks like for the newly eligible, she said. 'Ultimately, the goal of screening is to reduce mortality, and we haven't seen that quite yet, simply because not enough time has gone by.' Up-to-date screening via colonoscopy for those aged 45 to 49 rose from around 20% of people in 2019 to about 28% in 2023, according to one of the ACS reports. A colonoscopy is the gold-standard test that also helps doctors remove polyps to actually prevent the cancer from forming. Alternatively, use of tests that look for blood or DNA changes in the stool also increased, rising from 1.3% to 7.1% in that age group. Screening rates remained mostly stable in all other age groups, the report found. Screening rates also remained unchanged for people ages 45 to 49 with less than a high-school education or who are uninsured. And they still trail behind those for older adults, who remain at higher risk. Factors including genetics, excess body weight, smoking cigarettes and a diet heavy in red and processed meats also increase a person's odds of developing the disease. People in the 45-to-49 age bracket account for nearly half of all colorectal cancers under age 50, ACS said. But that still leaves a lot of people who are at risk and are too young to be screened. 'I have patients in their 20s in my practice that would never fit the guidelines,' said Dr. Michael Cecchini, a medical oncologist and colorectal cancer specialist at Yale Cancer Center. 'We need to be thinking about it on our list of possible diagnoses.' Write to Brianna Abbott at
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Cancer death rate for Black people declines, but higher risk remains
Cancer deaths among Black men and women in the United States have declined during the past decade in the United States, a new American Cancer Society report says. The cancer death rate decreased 49% among Black men and 33% among Black women between 1991 and 2022, according to ACS' Cancer Statistics for African American and Black People, 2025. However, Black people continue to have a higher cancer burden than other racial or ethnic groups, researchers found. "Overall declines in cancer mortality rates in Black people largely reflect behavioral changes, such as historical declines in cigarette smoking among Black teens, as well as advances in treatment and earlier detection for some cancers," said Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society. "Yet, this population persistently experiences a much higher mortality burden than other racial and ethnic groups for many cancers," Siegel added in a news release. "We must reverse course." The ACS report also found that the risk of death among Black patients is twice that of white folks when it comes to myeloma, prostate, endometrial and stomach cancers. Likewise, death rates among Black people for colon, breast, cervical and liver cancers are 40% to 50% higher than those for white patients, the report says. Overall, survival is lower in Black people than in white people for almost every type and stage of cancer, with the largest gaps involving melanoma, endometrial and cervical cancers, researchers found. "This report highlights the disparities the Black community has faced for decades," Dr. Wayne Frederick, the society's interim chief executive officer, said in a news release. "While the decline in cancer mortality rates is encouraging, the stark inequities in incidence and survival for many cancers underscore the urgent need for targeted research and interventions," he added. The report also found that: • Black men experienced the most significant relative decline in cancer deaths at nearly every age, compared to Black women and white people. This included a 65% to 67% decrease in deaths among those between 40 and 59 years of age. • The most commonly diagnosed cancers continue to be prostate (44% among males), breast (34% among females), lung (10%) and colon (8%). These types of cancer account for 58% of all new cancers diagnosed among Black people. • Black men have a 67% higher prostate cancer case rate compared to White men and are more than twice as likely to die from it. • Black women have a 38% higher risk of dying from breast cancer compared to White women, despite a 5% lower likelihood of being diagnosed with the disease. • Endometrial cancer cases continue to increase among Black women by 2% per year. "Future research should not only explore the influence of systemic racism on health, but also develop mechanisms to implement change, including increasing diversity in clinical trials," Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer of the society, said in a news release. "Given this latest data, it's also more important than ever to understand how to reduce your chance of getting cancer," Dahut added. "This means taking preventative health measures, like understanding your risk profile, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and keeping up on cancer screenings to catch the disease as early as possible." The new report, published Thursday, appears in the journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. More information The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about cancer and Black people. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
