HealthDay News — Four red-flag signs and symptoms may signal an elevated risk for early-onset colorectal cancer, according to a study published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Cassandra D. L. Fritz, MD, from Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues used data from 5075 incident early-onset colorectal cancer among US commercial insurance beneficiaries and matched controls with 2 or more years of continuous enrollment (2006 to 2015) to identify red-flag signs/symptoms between 3 months to 2 years before the index date among 17 prespecified signs/symptoms.
The researchers found that 4 red-flag signs/symptoms (abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, diarrhea, and iron deficiency anemia) were associated with an increased risk for early-onset colorectal cancer (odds ratios [ORs], 1.34 to 5.13). Risk increased with more of these signs/symptoms (1: OR, 1.94; 2: OR, 3.59; 3 or more: OR, 6.52). Even stronger associations were seen for younger ages and rectal cancer. Roughly 1 in 5 cases (19.3%) had their first sign/symptom occur between 3 months and 2 years before diagnosis (median diagnostic interval, 8.7 months), whereas 49.3% had the first sign/symptom within 3 months of diagnosis (median diagnostic interval, 0.53 months).
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“It’s also crucial to spread awareness among primary care doctors, gastroenterologists, and emergency medicine doctors,” a coauthor said in a statement. “To date, many early-onset colorectal cancers are detected in emergency rooms, and there often are significant diagnostic delays with this cancer.”
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