Facility-based colorectal cancer screening among young adults in the U.S. has become more prevalent since medical guidelines lowered the recommended age to begin CRC screening to 45, according to findings from a study published in JAMA Network Nov. 4.
The study evaluated CRC screening encounters using the Vizient Clinical Data Base, which includes administrative data from more than 1,350 hospitals in the U.S. CRC screening encounters included those among individuals aged 45 to 75 years from January 2016 to December 2024.
Here are four findings from the study:
1. Facility-based CRC screening among adults ages 45 to 49 increased about 10-fold following guideline changes from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the American Cancer Society, “far exceeding growth” among those ages 50 to 75.
2. “The study showed that hospitals are effectively implementing the USPSTF colorectal cancer screening recommendations, and screening rates are rising across all eligible age groups,” Alyssa Harris, one of the researchers behind the study, told MedPage Today. “These trends suggest that guideline adoption is translating into action at the system level — a positive sign that expanded eligibility and coordinated implementation are helping close longstanding screening gaps.”
3. “Typically, cancer in unscreened people is diagnosed once the disease has spread and causes symptoms, and the increasing trend in early-onset colorectal cancer has been wholly driven by advanced-stage diagnoses,” Rebeccca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at ASC told Medpage Today.
4. She added that screening uptake is likely higher than what was reported by this study, as the study is limited to hospital-based colonoscopy. But young adults are the most likely to select stool testing for its convenience and cost, and outpatient GI centers have also become a common site-of-service for colonoscopies.
