By Linda Carroll - NBC News
Colorectal cancer screening should begin in the United States at age 45, five years earlier than is currently recommended, according to new guidelines from the country's Preventive Services Task Force.
The decision to start these tests earlier could save thousands of lives, according to experts from that panel.
Rates of colorectal cancer - the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States and the second most common cancer among the Hispanic population in the country - have risen steadily in people ages 45 to 50, the doctor said.
Michael Barry, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and vice chair of the Task Force.
"We can reverse that substantially, through detection," he said.
"Starting at age 45 can save additional lives and prevent additional cases by removing precancerous polyps."
The new guidelines are aligned with recommendations issued by the American Cancer Society three years ago.
With the new nod from the Task Force, colonoscopies and other colon cancer screenings for people ages 45 to 50 are much more likely to be covered by insurance companies.
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The guidelines, published Tuesday in the academic journal JAMA, recommend six types of screening tests, including colonoscopies and stool tests.
The recommendations apply only to people who have an average risk of developing colorectal cancer, that is, who do not have a previous diagnosis of colorectal cancer, who do not have a family history of the disease or genetic disorders that increase the risk of developing it, who do not they have a history of precancerous polyps or a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease.
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The guideline change came after scientific data showed that
the death rate from colorectal cancer among Americans ages 45 to 49 is now comparable to that seen in those ages 50 to 54
, said Dr. Otis. Brawley, a co-author of the study published by the American Cancer Society, in which it was recommended that the age of initiation of the screening tests begin at 45 years, instead of 50.
Colorectal cancer is cancer that begins in the colon or rectum.
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Both age groups have a much higher death rate than people ages 40 to 44, said Brawley, professor of oncology and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. .
The new guidelines also emphasize the importance of screening among
African Americans, who have the highest incidence and death rates from colorectal cancer.
That higher rate is most likely not due to biological differences between African Americans and whites, Brawley said, but to factors such as obesity, poverty and less access to high-quality care.
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While the new guidelines are likely to make it possible to detect more cancers among younger people earlier, they would not yet detect all of them because some develop the disease at a much younger age, such as actor Chadwick Boseman, for For example, who died last year of colon cancer at age 43, Brawley said.
The new guidelines are "very, very important in terms of our ability to protect people, especially the very young, from colorectal cancer," said Dr. Felice Schnoll-Sussman, professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center and director of the Jay Monahan Center, at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
"Colorectal cancer is most treatable when it is found early," Schnoll-Sussman said. "It is a huge step forward in our attempt to protect the youngest people."
