Bowel cancer rates driven up by obesity among young in UK

Obesity and alcohol are contributory factors driving up bowel cancer cases among young people in the UK, researchers have warned.

Unhealthy lifestyles are contributing to cancer at an earlier age, they said, as they called for people to undergo screening sooner.

The new study also found concerns over bowel cancer death rates in women of all ages, which do not appear to be following the downward trend of many other cancers.

The research, published in journal Annals of Oncology, looked at European cancer death rates and those in the UK, comparing what death rates in 2024 could look like set against figures for 2018.

It found that bowel cancer death rates for men and women aged 25 to 49 years would rise in Italy (by 1.5% in men and 2.6% in women); in Poland (5.9%); and among Spanish men (5.5%), and German women (7.2%).

However, the UK showed a massive jump compared to these other countries, with a 26% expected rise in men and an eye-watering 39% expected rise in women.

The researchers wrote: “In the UK, colorectal (bowel) cancer mortality decreased for all ages in the past decades.

“However, there was an increase for the 25-to-49years age group since around 2000 in both sexes.”

Overall, death rates for all cancers when taken together are predicted to fall among both sexes in the UK, from 120.3 per 100,000 people to 103.7 per 100,000 people.

However, there are concerns about younger people and women when it comes to bowel cancer, with bowel cancer death rates among women refusing to budge.

The researchers said: “In the UK, projected ASRs (age standardised rates) for (bowel cancer) at all ages are favourable for men (3.4% versus 2018) but not for women (0.3%).”

In Scotland, people aged 50 to 74 are invited for bowel cancer screening every two years, with a kit sent and returned by post.