Ellis L, et al. - Researchers sought to assess colorectal cancer incidence trends by age and stage across racial/ethnic groups in California, 1990-2014. Findings revealed an increased incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer. They also noted a rising incidence of colorectal cancer among Southeast Asians of screening age and the persistently high incidence in non-Hispanic blacks.

Methods

• From the California Cancer Registry, researchers obtained all incident cases of colorectal cancer diagnosed from 1990 through 2014 in adults aged 20 years and older.
• They determined incidence rates (per 100,000), incidence rate ratios, and triannual percent changes in incidence for each age group at diagnosis (20–49, 50–74, 75+ years), sex, stage, and race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, and 7 Asian American groups).

Results

• From 1990 through 2014, researchers identified 349,176 incident colorectal cancer cases, 9% were in adults younger than 50 years.
• Most racial/ethnic groups showed increases in incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer, especially in regional/distant stage disease (statistically significant for non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics, ranging from 0.9% to 2.9% every 3 years).
• Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian groups of screening age (50–74 years) also showed increases in the incidence.
• A decline in the incidence of colorectal cancer in non-Hispanic blacks aged 50+ over the 25-year period was noted, but the incidence remained significantly higher than in non-Hispanic whites.