INDIANAPOLIS — A new metric, so-called colon age, has been developed to help estimate the risk for early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) in male veterans.
To help decide whether and how to screen veterans younger than 50, researchers from the Richard L. Roudebush VAMC, Indiana University School of Medicine and The Regenstrief Institute, all in Indianapolis, used risk-prediction models derived and validated on male veterans to calculate the RRs for six scenarios for three age groups (35-39, 40-44 and 45–49 years).
Those included:
- one low-risk scenario (no risk factors present),
- four intermediate risk scenarios (some risk factors present) and
- one high-risk scenario (all risk factors present).
“For each scenario, we estimated absolute colorectal cancer risk using Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results colorectal cancer incidence rates and each scenario’s RR,” the researchers wrote in Cancer Prevention Research. “We identified the current Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results 5-year age group to which the revised estimate was closest and refer to the midpoint of this group as the ‘colon age.’”
The study team noted that, when the revised estimate equals or exceeds that for 50- to 54-year-olds and for 70- to 74-year-olds, respective recommendations were made for any colorectal cancer screening and screening with colonoscopy.
“Among the scenarios, there was inconsistency between the two models for the 35-to-39 and 40-to-44 age groups, with only the 15-variable model recommending screening for the higher-risk 35- to 39-year-olds,” the authors explained. “Both models recommended screening for some intermediate risk and high-risk 40- to 44-year-olds.”
That led to the conclusion that the models were well-aligned on whether and how to screen most 45- to 49-year-olds.
“Using risk factors for EOCRC with colorectal cancer incidence rates, ‘colon age’ may be useful for shared decision-making about whether and how to screen male veterans <50 years,” according to the report. “For 45- to 49-year-olds, the 7-variable model may be preferred by patients, providers, and health systems.”
- Imperiale TF, Myers LJ, Barker BC, Stump TE, Daggy JK. Colon Age: A Metric for Whether and How to Screen Male Veterans for Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2024 Jun 12:OF1-OF8. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-23-0544. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38863231.
