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Review
. 2021 Aug 15;13(8):856-866.
doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v13.i8.856.

Young-onset colorectal cancer: A review

Joy Zhou Done  1 , Sandy H Fang  2
Affiliations
Review

Young-onset colorectal cancer: A review

Joy Zhou Done et al. World J Gastrointest Oncol. .

Abstract

Despite the general decrease in overall incidence of colorectal cancer since the early 1990s, the incidence of colorectal cancer in patients less than 50 years old has nearly doubled. A systematic review was performed using the PubMed database (2011-2020) and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2011-2021) to identify studies (published in English) evaluating epidemiologic, clinical, hereditary, and molecular features; as well as evaluation, management, and prognosis of young-onset colorectal cancer patients. Our search yielded a total of 3401 articles, after applying our inclusion criteria. We fully reviewed 94 full-length studies. This systematic review demonstrates the increasing incidence of young-onset colorectal cancer and highlights the importance of being hypervigilant for the differential diagnosis colorectal cancer when evaluating a young adult who presents with gastrointestinal symptoms.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Early-onset colorectal cancer; Genetic; Hereditary; Young adult; Young-onset colorectal cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: Neither Dr. Done JZ nor Dr. Fang SH have any conflicts of interest to disclose for this paper.

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