Lately, among all the various types of cancer, one is rising menacingly: colorectal cancer. While the incidence rates of other cancers are slowly declining, colorectal cancer alone is on a soaring trajectory.
According to an international joint study in 2022, global colorectal cancer patients jumped from 840,000 in 1990 to 2.17 million in 2019, more than doubling. It is developed countries that are driving this explosive increase in colorectal cancer. While developed nations are ahead in various health indicators, colorectal cancer seems to move in the opposite direction.
The core reason pointed out is that the number of young colorectal cancer patients under the age of 50 is increasing. According to a 2019 survey conducted by the American Cancer Society on colorectal cancer patients in 42 countries, while the number of patients aged 50 and older decreased in some developed countries, it showed an increasing trend for those under 50 in most places.
In particular, South Korea saw an average annual increase of 4.2% in young colorectal cancer patients between 2003 and 2012. Although a 4.2% figure might seem small, this is an average growth rate, meaning the number of patients snowballed with compound interest over a decade. Consequently, South Korea has rapidly emerged as the country with the highest proportion of young colorectal cancer patients in the world.
Researchers at Washington University analyzed 5,075 colorectal cancer patients aged 18 to 49 in the United States. Women accounted for 48.1%, men for 51.9%, with colon cancer making up 63.1% and rectal cancer 36.7%. They checked the warning signs and symptoms from 3 months to 2 years before the patients were diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
