Study identifies risk factors for early-onset colorectal cancer

A recent study found that factors such as a person's birthweight, sex, ethnicity, and father's age may affect the risk of being diagnosed with colorectal cancer at a young age. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

In the study of 1,221 people born and diagnosed with early-onset colorectal cancer-defined as being diagnosed before age 50-in California in 1988–2021 and 61,050 matched individuals without cancer, men had a 34% higher risk of early-onset colorectal cancer compared with women. Also, Hispanic ethnicity was linked with a 43% higher risk compared with white ethnicity. Having a foreign-born mother was associated with a 15% lower risk of early-onset colorectal cancer. Among females, every 500g increase in birthweight was associated with a 10% increase in early-onset colorectal cancer risk and having a father aged 35 years or older was associated with a 56% higher risk. Investigators did not observe any links between early-onset colorectal cancer risk and other demographic, birth, and parental characteristics.

Additional research is needed to uncover potential mechanisms behind these associations.

Evaluating demographic, birth, and parental characteristics is important in understanding what's causing the rising incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer. Our findings warrant future studies aimed to understand the mechanisms through which factors such as male sex, Hispanic ethnicity, birthweight, maternal birthplace, and paternal age may influence risk of early onset colorectal cancer."

Sunny Siddique, MPH, PhD, lead author, Yale School of Public Health