Colon Cancer Is Rising Among Adolescents

Colon cancer in U.S. adolescents is on the rise, experts say, and a new report finds it’s typically caught in its more deadly later stages.

“Colorectal cancer is, unfortunately, becoming more common in adolescents and young adults and represents a different disease than colorectal cancer diagnosed in older adults,” said study author Dr. Erica Arnold, a pediatric surgery research fellow at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

She said colon cancer diagnosed in adolescents “is often aggressive, presenting with late-stage disease and associated with high rates of disease relapse and mortality.” She spoke in a news release from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Arnold’s team is scheduled to present its findings today at the AAP’s annual meeting in San Diego.

The study tracked the medical histories and outcomes of 84 patients aged 21 or younger who’d been diagnosed with colorectal cancer at one of 34 medical centers between 2012 and 2023. 

Most (77.4%) of the cancers originated in the colon, while 22.6% were rectal cancers, the records showed. The median age at diagnosis was 16.5 years (half were younger, half older). Cases were slightly more prevalent in males than females.

More than half of cases were already at stage 3 upon diagnosis, and another 29% had progressed to stage 4, Arnold’s team said. More than a third (36.9%) had a recurrence after treatment, which in most cases involved surgery. 

In nearly half of cases, the disease proved fatal.

The study said symptoms that could indicate colon cancer in young people include unexplained weight loss, rectal bleeding, back/abdominal pain and changes in bowel habits. 

Because colon cancer is so unexpected in this age group, diagnosis is often delayed, the study group warned.

“Children and adolescents without known colorectal cancer predisposition syndromes experience delays in diagnosis and the majority do not have a known family history,” the researchers noted in their study. 

Routine colon cancer screening for people at average risk usually begins at age 45.

The study authors urged physicians to consider this cancer in any young person presenting with symptoms such as abdominal pain or rectal bleeding. 

Because these findings were presented at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

There’s more on colon cancer at the American Cancer Society.

SOURCES: American Academy of Pediatrics, news release, meeting abstract, Sept. 30, 2026