Experts urge early screening for colorectal cancer. Cases are increasing under the age of 50

The Portuguese Society of Gastroenterology (SPG) wants to bring forward the recommended age for screening for colorectal cancer by five years, to 45, because in 10 years there has been a doubling of cases in people under 50 years of age.

The appeal by the president of the SPG, Pedro Narra Figueiredo, in statements to Lusa, comes in the month that marks the Fight Against Bowel Cancer, and focuses on the fact that this cancer is “easily preventable” and can be screened – through of colonoscopy.

This exam can “detect a small injury and cure people”.

Digestive cancer, overall, constitutes around a quarter of all cancers and is responsible for 35% of deaths, but within this, colorectal cancer (intestine) has a very important weight, according to data from SPG.

“In Portugal there are 7,000 new cases per year and it is the second most common cancer in women, right after breast cancer”, said the president, considering colon and rectal cancer (bowel cancer overall) the second most common cancer most common in men, right after the prostate.

“From all points of view, whether in men or women, it is in fact a very common tumor with a mortality rate of 50%. Half of patients die from bowel cancer”, warned the gastroenterology specialist.

Added to this is the “very relevant” aspect, assured the specialist, of clearly increasing the number of younger patients, between 45 and 50 years old, with bowel cancer.

This threshold of 50 years is important because screening for this cancer is recommended from that age onwards, but Pedro Narra Figueiredo assures that a preventive attitude can reduce this increase in cases in younger people in the last decade.

“We are fighting and drawing attention to the importance of raising the starting age for screening for this cancer, from 50 years old, to 45 years old in view of this large increase in cancer cases in this age group”, he said.

A decade ago, the proportion of colorectal cancer cases under 50 years of age was 5% of all these tumors, and is currently 10%.

In a decade, there was a doubling of colorectal cancer cases in people under 50 years of age, he found.

This increase in the incidence of colorectal cancer has been associated, on the one hand, with the aging of the population, because these tumors are more common in older age groups, and on the other hand, with the increased prevalence of risk factors related to lifestyle. .

In addition to screening, preventing this cancer, he explained, involves having a healthy lifestyle, based on four factors: abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, combating obesity and practicing physical exercise.

Prevention should be the focus of attention in health policies, argues the SPG, remembering that, in the case of bowel cancer, it is “extraordinarily effective” in reducing morbidity and mortality”.