Starting screening before age 50 is found to significantly reduce the
risk and incidence of colorectal cancer in women

Date:
May 5, 2022
Source:
Massachusetts General Hospital
Summary:
A new study reports a 50 to 60 percent lower risk of colorectal
cancer (CRC) among women who started endoscopy screening at age
45 compared to those who had not undergone screening at all.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) in women before the age of 50
can significantly reduce the risk of CRC compared to those who have no endoscopic screening or decide to initiate testing at age 50, according
to a new study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). These findings, published in JAMA Oncology, support recommendations from the American
Cancer Society and the US Preventive Services Task Force over the past
four years to commence screening at age 45 to address the steady increase
in cases of younger-onset CRC.


========================================================================== "While there's been an alarming increase in the incidence of colorectal
cancer in recent decades in younger individuals, screening has
largely been focused on people over 50," says Andrew Chan, MD, MPH,
a gastroenterologist and epidemiologist at MGH, and senior author
of the study. "Our work provides first-of-its-kind data to show that
initiating screening at a younger age can reduce an individual's risk
of colorectal cancer and the population's overall incidence of cancer,
thus demonstrating the substantial impact of earlier screening on both individual and population-wide scales." Among all cancers, colorectal
has the third highest incidence of death in both men and women in the
U.S. Even as the overall number of CRC cases has declined, the incidence
among people younger than 50 -- a group for whom routine screening
was not recommended until only recently -- increased by 51 percent
from 1974 to 2013, according to epidemiological data. To evaluate the association between CRC risk and endoscopies initiated at different ages,
MGH conducted a comprehensive study that included 111,801 women from the Nurses' Health Study II, a large cohort of registered nurses residing
in 14 states.

Researchers found a 50 to 60 percent lower risk of CRC among women who
started endoscopy screening at age 45 compared to those who had not
undergone screening at all. In addition, they learned that starting
screening at ages 45 to 49 resulted in a significant reduction in the population's actual cases of CRC diagnosed through age 60, compared
to a strategy in which women began screening at ages 50 to 54. While
the study was focused on women, Chan suggests the same benefits likely
accrue to men, though he adds further studies are needed.

The traditional CRC screening tool is the colonoscopy, where a physician
uses a flexible tube with a camera to examine the colon and rectum. This invasive technique allows for removal of polyps that could over time
become malignant, and for detection of early-stage cancers that can be
treated more effectively.

Options for screening have expanded more recently through stool-based
tests that are non-invasive and may be more convenient for individuals.

Chan points to the substantial public health implications of his team's research. "Any trepidation that clinicians might have had about the effectiveness of CRC screening at a younger age will hopefully be allayed
by these results," he says. "Our data show that we have an effective
tool to address the epidemic of colorectal cancer among younger adults,
and hopefully this will encourage physicians to have a conversation about screening with their younger patients which, in turn, will motivate them
to follow through and get screened." Chan is chief of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiological Unit at MGH, and director of Epidemiology,
Mass General Cancer Center, and the Daniel K.

Podolsky Professor of Medicine. Lead author Wenjie Ma, ScD is an
instructor in Medicine, and co-senior author Mingyang Song, MD, is
assistant professor of Medicine, both in the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit at MGH.

The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute and National
Institutes of Health.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Massachusetts_General_Hospital. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Wenjie Ma, Molin Wang, Kai Wang, Yin Cao, Ellen Hertzmark,
Shuji Ogino,
Kimmie Ng, Walter C. Willett, Edward L. Giovannucci, Mingyang
Song, Andrew T. Chan. Age at Initiation of Lower Gastrointestinal
Endoscopy and Colorectal Cancer Risk Among US Women. JAMA Oncology,
2022; DOI: 10.1001/ jamaoncol.2022.0883 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220505143805.htm

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