Updated colorectal cancer screening effective for adults ages 45 to 50, study suggests

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Updated national colorectal cancer screening guidelines that recommend starting screening at age 45, rather than 50, may benefit younger adults, a new Kaiser Permanente study found.

The study, published on October 22 in Annals of internal medicineincluded more than 267,000 Kaiser Permanente members in Northern California, Washington and Colorado ages 45 to 50 who received their first colorectal cancer screening invitation along with a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) kit between January and September of 2022.

“The US Preventive Services Task Force lowered the age to start screening in response to studies showing a higher rate of colorectal cancer in adults ages 45 to 49,” said co-senior author Theodore R. Levin, MD, research scientist at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research (DOR) and gastroenterologist at Permanente Medical Group (TPMG).

«However, the change was based entirely on simulation models. “We decided to collect real-world data about what happened when we started sending FIT kits to Kaiser Permanente members ages 45 to 49.”

Overall, about 39% of adults ages 45 to 49 returned their FIT kit, compared to nearly 38% of adults ages 50. In the 45- to 49-year-old group, 3.6% of adults had a positive result compared to 4% of adults in the 50-year-old group.

In both groups, about two-thirds of adults who had a positive FIT test underwent a colonoscopy within 90 days of receiving the test result. Detection of polyps during colonoscopy was slightly lower in the younger group: 58.8% compared to 67.7% in the 50-year-old group.

However, colorectal cancer screening rates were similar: 2.8% of people ages 45 to 49 and 2.7% of those ages 50 received a cancer diagnosis after their colonoscopy.

Since 2008, Kaiser Permanente’s colorectal cancer screening program has provided FIT kits to all eligible members annually, starting at age 50. In January 2022, Kaiser Permanente adopted the Task Force’s new screening recommendations and expanded its program to include members ages 45 to 49.

“Our study suggests that adults ages 45 to 49 have a risk of colorectal cancer similar to what we see in adults ages 50,” said senior author Jeffrey K. Lee, MD, MPH, DOR research scientist and TPMG gastroenterologist. .

“These results provide strong support for guidelines recommending that colorectal cancer screening begin at age 45. “The low number of cancers we found also supports the idea of ​​initially offering younger adults a non-invasive test, such as FIT, to determine which patients would benefit from a colonoscopy test.”

More information:
Completion and Performance of Colorectal Cancer Screening in Patients Aged 45 to 50: An Observational Study Annals of internal medicine (2024). www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M24-0743

Provided by Kaiser Permanente

Citation: Updated Colorectal Cancer Screening Effective for Adults Ages 45 to 50, Study Suggests (2024, Oct. 21) Retrieved Oct. 22, 2024, from Effective-adults.html

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