More Americans under 50 are being hospitalized with severe diverticulitis—a painful colon infection once rare in younger adults.Diverticulitis occurs when small pouches in the colon wall become inflamed, causing abdominal pain, bleeding, fever and bowel changes.Complicated cases may lead to abscesses or perforations.A new analysis of 5.2 million hospitalizations found that complicated cases of diverticulitis rose from 18.5% in 2005 to 28.2% in 2020—a 52% increase.Though surgery rates have dropped, younger patients remain more likely to need invasive treatment than older patients, suggesting a more aggressive disease pattern in younger adults.Researchers call it a growing public health concern, echoing similar increases in colorectal cancer among young adults.They suspect diet, lifestyle, obesity and other environmental factors may be driving the trend, and they say more research is urgently needed.Source: Diseases of the Colon and RectumAuthor Affiliations: UCLA, Vanderbilt University.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter