Investigating the rise of early-onset colorectal cancer
The troubling increase of early-onset colorectal cancer incidence and mortality has led to a shift in the age at which the American Cancer Society recommends beginning colorectal cancer screening, from age 50 to age 45.\n\nWhat are some of the biological and environmental factors that might be behind this rise in early-onset colorectal cancer? How can we prevent it?\n\nAnd what is behind the troubling racial and ethnic disparities we see in colorectal cancer incidence and mortality?\n\nJoining us to take us through these issues is one of the leading researchers in this space. Peter Campbell, PhD, is Scientific Director, Epidemiology Research, in the Population Science Department of the American Cancer Society.\n\n4:05 \u2013 The main areas of focus in his research program\n\n7:26 \u2013 The differing incidence and mortality rates for colorectal cancer in younger and older Americans\n\n10:57 \u2013 On racial/ethnic colorectal cancer disparities \n\n13:26 \u2013 Digging into the \u201cwhy\u201d behind some of these trends\n\n19:36 \u2013 How the American Cancer Society is trying to reduce disparities and reverse the rise of early-onset colorectal cancer\n\n23:04 \u2013 On the Colorectal Cancer Pooling Project\n\n26:18 \u2013 Where his team hopes this work could lead in 5 years \n\n28:37 \u2013 Thoughts on tumor heterogeneity \n(One of the challenges of colorectal cancer is that not only are tumors different from patient to patient, but they differ within individual patients as time progresses. Could these molecular differences in tumors could be associated with lifestyle? How could we find out?)\n\n31:58 \u2013 On what it might mean for colorectal cancer survival if there are associations between how we live and colorectal cancer heterogeneity