Age is more than a number.

The rate of colorectal cancer is rising among young people, which has led to a decrease in the age for initial colorectal cancer screening. The IDEA database pooled data from over 16,000 individual patients from 6 trials. Among these, 9.6% had early onset colorectal cancer defined as age < 50 at diagnosis. Despite better performance status, tolerance of higher treatment intensity, and a higher rate of completing treatment, patients <50 years of age had inferior outcomes—especially those with high risk stage III disease, where younger patients had significantly worse 3-year freedom from relapse (54% v 65%) and 5-year cancer mortality (24% v 20%). | Fontana, J Clin Oncol 2021