Mary Alice Reporting –
At a recent Ohio Department of Health Conference, the Director highlighted concern data related to colorectal cancer diagnosis in those 55 and younger.
Reports indicate the rates of diagnosis and deaths among the age range have been increasing by one to two percent per year since the mid-1990’s.
ODH Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff says that colorectal cancer is the second cause of cancer deaths in America and estimates are that about 53,000 nationally will die from this disease in 2024.
“According to a study, published in the journal of The National Cancer Institute, millennials, born around 1990, now have twice the risk of colon cancer compared to people born around the 1950’s.”
In Ohio, the first two decades of the 2000’s saw colorectal cancer rates and mortality significantly increase in males and females.
Research indicates reasons behind this rise could include family history, environmental, medication effects on good and bad gut bacteria. Two factors, says Vanderhoff, that are prominent is a high processed and sugary diet and sedentary lifestyle.
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