• Starting screening before age 50 is foun

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Thursday, May 05, 2022 22:30:40
    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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