Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer: Symptoms You Need to Know, But May Be Too Embarrassed to Talk About

ATTACK diarrhea, abdominal pain, and persistent, unexplained appearance of blood streaks during bowel movements may be signs of early-onset colorectal cancer.

This is a disease that is increasingly being seen in young adults who are not old enough to qualify for a colonoscopy (a procedure to detect sores, irritations, polyps or cancer of the colon and rectum).

The most troubling early symptom is rectal bleeding. One of the possible signs of colon cancer you’re not comfortable talking about outside the bathroom.

“This can be difficult or embarrassing to talk about,” says Dr. Matthew Kalady, director of the division of colon and rectal surgery at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center as reported NBC.

“But the reality is that everyone deals with something like this and it’s important to understand what’s normal and what’s not.”

New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, published early May 2023 in Journal of National Cancer Institute and involved 5,075 people with early-onset colorectal cancer collecting these symptoms.

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The study aims to find symptoms that may signal the beginning of colorectal cancer, a disease which has surged among young adults in recent years by a troubling number of people who go undiagnosed until an advanced stage.

According to the American Cancer Society, the proportion of colorectal cancer cases that occur in people under the age of 55 has more than doubled from 1995 to 2019, from 11% to 20%.

New research found four distinct symptoms present in the two years before a colorectal cancer diagnosis. These include abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, diarrhea that doesn’t stop, as well as anemia and iron deficiency.

Symptoms of anemia are usually found in the annual blood tests performed on the patient’s body.

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According to the study, participants had at least one of these symptoms that started two years before they were diagnosed.

However, colonoscopy is only recommended at the age of 45 and over. This means people may have symptoms long before they seek medical care or have been diagnosed with colon cancer that could have been treated if caught earlier.

“A lot of people ignore these things as patients,” said one of the study’s authors, Dr. Cassandra Fritz, assistant professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

According to Fritz, these symptoms need to be watched out for and followed up. “Go to the doctor to get further evaluation,” he concluded. (dsh)

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