TUESDAY, April 28, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Rectal cancer is occurring earlier and killing younger adults faster, according to a study presented at Digestive Disease Week 2026, held from May 2 to 5 in Chicago.
Mythili Menon Pathiyil, M.D., from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, and colleagues analyzed U.S. death records for adults aged 20 to 44 years (1999 to 2023), identified from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER database. The researchers calculated annual changes in mortality rates by sex, race and ethnicity, region, and age group and then used the ARIMA machine-learning model to project trends through 2035.
The researchers found that during the study period, early-onset colorectal cancer mortality rose across most demographic groups. Colon cancer mortality was higher in men (average annual percentage changes [AAPC], 0.43 percent) versus women (0.24 percent), with deaths projected to continue increasing. Rectal cancer mortality rose more steeply in both men (1.83 percent) and women (1.84 percent). Hispanic adults had the largest increase in mortality for both colon cancer (1.06 percent) and rectal cancer (2.20 percent), while White adults showed sustained increases (0.71 and 1.72 percent, respectively). While colon cancer mortality declined among Black (−0.82 percent) and Asian/Pacific Islander adults (−0.57 percent), both groups experienced increases in rectal cancer mortality (0.80 and 1.01 percent, respectively). There was a shift in disease burden toward older young adults. Colon cancer mortality was high among adults aged 35 to 39 years (0.74 percent) and 40 to 44 years (0.56 percent), with rectal cancer mortality substantially higher (1.77 and 1.71 percent, respectively). There were declines in colon cancer mortality among those aged 20 to 24 years (−1.75 percent) and 25 to 29 years (−0.34 percent), while rectal cancer mortality declined only among those aged 25 to 29 years (−0.22 percent).
"It's less about just changing guidelines overnight and more about changing how we think about it, recognizing that colorectal cancer in young adults is no longer rare, and it needs earlier attention," Pathiyil said in a statement.
