Did you know that colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths for men and women?

This year it was anticipated that there would be about 140,250 NEW cases of colorectal cancer in the United States. All toll, about 1 out of every 20 people in the United States will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The worse part is that about 33% of Americans are not current on their colorectal screening and consequently, nearly 60% of colorectal cancer deaths can be avoided.

One thing to consider is that about 25% of people diagnosed with colorectal cancer have a family history of colorectal cancer.

There is a bright side in that the mortality rate from colorectal cancer has dropped by over 30% since 1991 and continue to improve year by year. In fact, there are over 1 million colorectal cancer survivors living in the United States.

The big question now is when should everyone start getting screened for colorectal cancer?

For many years, the age for first screening was 60 and then several decades ago, the age for first screening was lowered to 50. The question now being bantered around by health professionals is whether or not 50 is the right age or should it be lowered further and not everyone is agreeing with the latest recommendations or what type of screening to use, as reported:

Conflicting recommendations on when and how average-risk adults should get screened for colon and rectal cancer could leave you confused — but new guidance aims to make sense of it all.

The American Cancer Society recommends to start regular screening at age 45, while other recommendations have stuck with recommending to start at age 50. The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care recommends not using colonoscopy as a primary screening test, while other recommendations do.

A new guidance statement from the American College of Physicians or ACP, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday, examines that discord and offers new insight into what to follow based on the latest evidence.

“When we do a guidance statement, we are essentially looking at other organizations’ guidelines and taking a deeper dive into their process and why might they have come to slightly different conclusions — some of that is how they look at data or what definitions they might use,” said Dr. Robert McLean, president of the ACP and a practicing internist and rheumatologist at Northeast Medical Group of Yale New Haven Health in Connecticut.

“The conclusion is you should be starting screening at age 50. Between 50 and 75, you should be getting some type of screening test for colorectal cancer,” he said about the guidance statement. “The options are colonoscopy, the flexible sigmoidoscopy and FIT test or just a FIT test every two years.”

If you are approaching 40-45 years of age, you should be aware that depending on what doctor you see determines when that doctor will want you to be screened for colorectal cancer. It will also be up to your doctor as to what type of screening he or she will recommend.

Regardless of age or method, it’s important that everyone leaving their 30s should seriously consider the need for some sort of colorectal cancer, especially if there is a family history.