Young colorectal cancer patients often present too late.

PURPOSE: Current screening and health education strategies on colorectal cancer (CRC) remain focused on individuals >50 years old. However, CRC in young adults is not uncommon. This paper aims to explore how CRC presents in young adults and their clinical outcomes.

METHODS: All patients aged <50 years diagnosed with CRC from January 2007 to December 2015 were reviewed. Patient demographics, clinical symptoms, and outcomes of treatment were collected.

RESULTS: Of 1367 patients diagnosed with CRC, 154 (11.6%) were aged <50 years. The median age of diagnosis was 45 years (range, 19-49). The majority (61%) of the patients presented acutely via the emergency department and the three most common presenting symptoms were abdominal pain (n = 94; 61.0%), change in bowel habits (n = 74; 48.1%), and per rectal bleeding (n = 69; 44.8%). Most of the primary cancers were left sided (n = 122, 79.2%) in location and 33 (21.4%) patients had metastatic disease on presentation. 138 (89.6%) patients were treated with curative intent, including 17 (51.5%) with metastatic disease on presentation. There were 31 (22.5%) patients who developed disease recurrence at a median duration of 10.0 (range, 0.5-94.0) months. The younger group (<45 years old) were more likely to present acutely and had more aggressive tumor biology.

CONCLUSIONS: The majority of young CRC patients present acutely and their presenting symptoms are often vague. There is a need to educate young adults on the possibility of harboring CRC and its typical presenting symptoms to enable earlier detection.