In 2010, experts predict that 4,400 fewer Americans will be diagnosed with colon and rectal cancer than in 2009.

According to new American Cancer Society statistics for 2010, 142,570 people will hear the difficult words, “You have colorectal cancer”, down from 146,970 in 2009.

Still, 51,370 families will get painful news when loved ones die from colorectal cancer.

Continuing this year, African Americans are more likely to develop colorectal cancer than whites and other races, to die of it, and to have poorer survival at every stage of the disease. Read the rest of this entry »

Although new diagnoses of colon and rectal cancer are decreasing in the United States, the benefit does not reach everyone.

No matter where they lived, incidence of colorectal cancer dropped significantly between 1995 and 2004 for white Americans aged 65 and over, most of whom have Medicare that covers colonoscopy screening.  However, colorectal cancer rates for whites from 50 to 64 did not fall if they lived in rural areas or counties where there was poverty, lack of insurance, or few primary care providers.

African Americans only benefited from reduced incidence if they were over 64 and living in an affluent community. Read the rest of this entry »

As nations develop economically and adopt more Western diet and lifestyle, colorectal cancer increases.  In fact, the United States is the only nation in the world where colorectal cancer incidence rates are falling for both men and women.

Over the past 20 years, colorectal cancer rates have risen in 27 of 51 countries including Eastern Europe, most of Asia, and some South American countries.  Rates for men are rising faster than those for women. Read the rest of this entry »

Although the numbers of new colon and rectal cancers have been steadily declining in people over 50, the rate of newly diagnosed cancer is increasing in young adults from 20 to 49  in the United States.

The increase is primarily driven by rectal cancer in non-Hispanic whites where there was an average annual increase of 3.5 percent in men and 2.9 percent in women from 1992 through 2005.  Overall, incidence of colorectal cancer in young adults rose during that time 1.5 percent in men and 1.6 percent in women each year, almost all of the new cancers diagnosed in the left colon (distal colon) or rectum. Read the rest of this entry »