Gastrointestinal cancers are rising dramatically in people under 50

Gastrointestinal cancers, which include colorectal, stomach and pancreatic cancer, are rising dramatically in younger adults. Doctors aren’t fully sure why.

Gastrointestinal cancers, which include colorectal, stomach and pancreatic cancer, are rising dramatically in younger adults, though doctors aren’t fully sure why. Even some of the possible causes require more research, they say.

According to a review published Thursday in JAMA, gastrointestinal cancers have become the fastest-growing type of cancers diagnosed in adults younger than 50 in the U.S.

The review, one of the most comprehensive looks at gastrointestinal cancer trends, summarized the findings of major international and U.S. cancer databases, plus 115 papers on gastrointestinal cancers published from January 2014 to March 2025.

The authors underscore the need for people to follow the screening guidelines for colorectal cancer, which suggest that people with an average risk start screening — usually a colonoscopy or stool test — at age 45. Since doctors don’t routinely screen for pancreatic, stomach and esophageal cancers in the U.S., the authors also call for new ways to screen more people for these cancers.

“This really points to the importance of trying to improve screening and early detection,” said Dr. Kimmie Ng, the review’s co-author and director of the Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.