Colonoscopies performed in patients between the ages of 45 and 49 have similar rates of cancer and polyp detection as those performed in patients between 50 and 54, according to a new study from researchers at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, published in a June 2 JAMA Network report.
Here are eight additional things to know about colonoscopy efficacy in younger patients, per the study:
- Kaiser researchers compared 4,380 individuals aged 45-49 years, with 7,651 aged 50-54, who underwent colonoscopies between 2021 and 2024.
- Around 35% of the younger group and 40% of the older group had adenomas detected during colonoscopy.
- Around 0.1% of patients in each group had colorectal cancer.
- In 2021, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force changed its recommended colonoscopy screening age from 50 to 45.
- The U.S. Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer also advocates for screening in 45- to 49-year-olds.
- “It [the Kaiser study] certainly validates our current guidance to start screening for colorectal cancer at age 45,” Audrey Calderwood, MD, professor of medicine at Geisel School of Medicine in Dartmouth, N.H., told Medscape in a June 10 report.
- Cancer diagnosis rates among people under 50 have risen 13% since 2000.
- It is recommended that routine screenings begin at 45, and 3 out of 4 patients that die from CRC are not up to date with screenings.
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