Colorectal Cancer Deaths Rise Among Young US Adults Without Degrees

A new study has revealed that the alarming increase in colorectal cancer deaths among younger U.S. adults over the past three decades has occurred almost exclusively among those without a four-year college degree, pointing to underlying socioeconomic disparities as a key driver.

Researchers from the American Cancer Society analyzed government data on more than 101,000 adults aged 25 to 49 who died from colorectal cancer between 1994 and 2023. The overall death rate in this age group rose from about 3 per 100,000 to 4 per 100,000 during that period. However, the increase was starkly uneven: for individuals with only a high school education, the rate climbed from 4 to 5.2 per 100,000, while it remained stable at 2.7 per 100,000 for those with at least a bachelor's degree. The findings, published Thursday in JAMA Oncology, mark the first national analysis to link educational attainment directly to this trend.

"It's not totally unexpected that the death risk is concentrated in the less advantaged," said Dr. Paolo Boffetta, a researcher at Stony Brook Cancer Center in New York who was not involved in the study. He noted that education often serves as a proxy for other factors, such...