ATLANTA, March 2, 2026 — Colorectal cancer rates in the United States are moving in two very different directions, according to a new report released today from the American Cancer Society...

Hacker News.

Highlights
  • In 2026, an estimated 158,850 new cases of colorectal cancer will be diagnosed, and 55,230 people will die from the disease in the U.S.
  • Colorectal cancer incidence is rising in adults under 65 (by 3% per year in ages 20–49 and 0.4% per year in ages 50–64), driven by cancer occurrence in the distal colon and rectum.
  • Nearly half (45%) of new colorectal cancer cases are now occurring in adults under 65, up from 27% in 1995, signaling a major shift toward younger generations.
  • Three in 4 colorectal cancers in adults younger than 50 years are advanced stage (regional or distant) at diagnosis, and a little more than 1 in 4 (27%) are distant stage.
  • One-half (50%) of colorectal cancer diagnoses under age 50 are in people 45-49 years who are eligible for colorectal cancer screening, which prevents cancer as well as detecting asymptomatic disease.
  • Colorectal cancer mortality rates increased by 1% per year in both adults under 50, since 2004, and in adults aged 50-64, since 2019.
  • Colorectal cancer incidence and mortality continue to decrease in adults 65 and older by more than 2% per year.
  • Rectal cancer incidence increased in all ages combined by 1% per year from 2018 to 2022, reversing decades of decline.
  • Rectal cancer now accounts for about one-third (32%) of colorectal cancer diagnoses, up from one-fourth (27%) in the mid-2000s.
  • Alaska Native people have the highest colorectal cancer incidence (80.9 per 100,000) and mortality (31.5 per 100,000) in the U.S., more than 2-fold that of White people; American Indian people have the second-highest burden.

According to researchers, more than one-half of colorectal cancers are attributable to modifiable risk factors, such as smoking, an unhealthy diet, high alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, and excess body weight, and are potentially preventable. Many additional cases and deaths are preventable through appropriate screening and access to high‐quality treatment. Scientists found that half of all people diagnosed before 50 are ages 45-49 years and are eligible for screening. Yet, screening prevalence in this age group is just 37%, and 3 in 4 colorectal cancers in adults younger than 50 years are diagnosed at an advanced stage (regional or distant). The 5-year survival rate for local-stage disease is 95%.

  • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
    1·
    22 hours ago

    screening in younger isnt reccommeneded, and doctors wont prescribe it normally, if you dont have risk factors, so theres that deterrance, and insurance is unlikely to cover it as well.

  • notwhoyouthink@lemmy.zipEnglish
    9·
    3 days ago

    My dudes, get your prostate checked including bloodwork starting at 40, younger if you have any genetic or environmental factors that may increase your odds of having this cancer.

    Establishing a baseline is incredibly important for early detection and treatment. Cancer is horrible, and prostate cancer is a particularly nasty and rough way to go.

      • Pycorax@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        Man just how much does it cost for a check up where you live? I’m paying out of pocket at a private clinic and it’s only 390 USD (after conversion) for one of the higher tiers that the doctors recommend you do every two years.

        • Haquer@lemmy.today
          1·
          1 day ago

          Southeastern US, you can probably guess the figures are not good.

          Even in a LCOL area, the only non-catastrophic insurances would run me $300/mo, and primary care visits would be $60 on top of that. If you pay out of pocket with no insurance, I have no clue how much it’d be just for a PCP visit, but attempting to get a colonoscopy out of pocket would likely be in the $4000 range (after researching online across a few states), and with the aforementioned insurance I looked at I’d be paying 50% of that even after insurance premiums monthly.

          Insurance in the states is a scam.

          • Pycorax@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            1·
            20 hours ago

            That’s insane. It sounds like it might be cheaper to fly to another country just to do a check up?

      • NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net
        5·
        2 days ago

        I genuinely don’t know how every American hasn’t revolted against insurance companies and burnt them to the ground.

        Where else in the world can a doctor tell you to your face “You need this to live” and an untrained pencil pusher or worse a glorified LLM can say “Well ackshually we decided you don’t.”

        • cmbabul@lemmy.world
          7·
          2 days ago

          I’ve spent the last few weeks in a deep depression as I came to the horrifying realization of why we haven’t and never will. The vast majority of my fellow American are unwilling to give up our comforts for the betterment of anyone else, including most those in our immediate community. We do not actually care about others in anything more than a performative way.

          We’re too atomized to actually be a country, we’re a corporation pretending to be a country and none of the coworkers want anything to do with the other. Shit is cooked

          • NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net
            2·
            13 hours ago

            I wish I had better advice for you other than “Take care of yourself and the people around you”

            But when you’re struggling with the wider world it helps to maintain your own health by making sure your surroundings aren’t making you feel worse, the day to day things like keeping your space and yourself clean and tidy, making sure you eat regularly will massively help to regulate your brain.

            Can’t be a revolutionary when you’re running on empty. It’s the old “Everyone has a saviour in them, even if the person you save is yourself, it’s enough.”

  • NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net
    72·
    3 days ago

    I wonder what prevalent illness, documented to increase the risk of cancers, could be negatively impacting our immune system and regulatory functions after being allowed to run rampant for the past 6 years

    • Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      71·
      3 days ago

      While Covid certainly doesn’t help, the trend started well before then, and none of the research points to this being a factor at all. Unless there is a atudy linking the two, or some other evidence, just blaming Covid for every new health phenomenon is misinformation at best and dangerous at worst, as it implies that the factors listed should be disregarded.

      • NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net
        2·
        2 days ago

        Very true, the past few decades of pumping carbon and plastic waste (/by)products into our agriculture, air, water, and food will have certainly had an effect on our digestive and excretory systems as well.

        Wasn’t saying covid is the be-all and end-all of the world’s health problems and I DEFINITELY wasn’t disregarding any of the other academically researched and documented causes.

        But that’s what happens when you bring something up on the internet eh, always going to have a lack of understanding somewhere thanks to the notoriously imprecise way words and inference works.

      • arrow74@lemmy.zip
        3·
        3 days ago

        It’s worthwhile to discuss the potential impacts of covid long term, but it will probably take a decade before full studies start being published.

        Early evidence still looks bad