Colon Cancer Rates Drop in Older Americans, but Disparities Remain

“Dramatic” progress has been made in reducing colon cancer incidence and death rates in the U.S., but concerns remain about “striking” racial and socio-economic disparities, according to new national statistics on colorectal cancer.

During the past decade, colon cancer incidence rates dropped by 30% in adults 50 and older, with the largest improvements seen in people older than age 65, the group most likely to die from the disease, found the report published Monday in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

“We were very surprised to see that kind of drop in just one decade. That's enormous,” said Rebecca Siegel, director of surveillance information for the American Cancer Society, and a co-author of the report.

Typically, declines in cancer rates average 1% to 2% annually, Siegel said, but in the case of colon cancer it was closer to 4%, which the report attributes to widespread increases in colonoscopy screening over the years.

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Source: Modern Healthcare