Colorectal Cancer Risen to Leading Cause of Cancer Death in Men Under 50

TUESDAY, Jan. 27, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For the five leading causes of cancer-related death in people younger than 50 years, mortality decreased from 1990 through 2023, except for colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a research letter published online Jan. 22 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.Rebecca L. Siegel, M.P.H., from the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, and colleagues examined changes in cancer mortality in the United States for the five leading cancer-related deaths among people younger than 50 years during the past three decades.The researchers found that 1,267,520 people died of cancer in the United States before age 50 years from 1990 through 2023, and the age-standardized death rate decreased from 25.5 to 14.2 per 100,000 (44 percent). The mean annual declines from 2014 through 2023 were 0.3, 1.4, 2.3, and 5.7 percent for brain cancer, breast cancer, leukemia, and lung cancer, respectively; colorectal cancer mortality increased by 1.1 percent annually from 2005, increasing from the fifth most common cancer death in 1990 through 1994 to the most common cancer death in 2023. Lung cancer decreased from ranking first to fourth and leukemia from third to fifth, while breast cancer remained the second-leading cancer death overall and first in women. Despite a continuous decline throughout the study period, cervical cancer ranked third in women in 1990 and in 2023."The fact that colorectal cancer has now risen to the leading cause of cancer death in men under 50 and second leading in women under 50, only second to breast cancer, are extremely alarming results," Christine Molmenti, Ph.D., M.P.H., a cancer epidemiologist and codirector of the Northwell Health Early-Onset Program in Westchester, New York, said in a statement.Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required).Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Colorectal Cancer Risen to Leading Cause of Cancer Death in Men Under 50

Related Stories