Colon cancer screening age moves up: US task force recommends starting at age 45

Americans should begin getting screened for colon cancer at age 45, rather than the previously recommended age of 50, according to updated guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

The final recommendation, officially published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), calls for all adults ages 45 to 75 years old to be screened for colorectal cancer.

“Far too many people in the U.S. are not receiving this lifesaving preventive service,” Task Force vice chair Michael Barry said in a statement. “We hope that this new recommendation to screen people ages 45 to 49, coupled with our long-standing recommendation to screen people 50 to 75, will prevent more people from dying from colorectal cancer.”

Background: The key panel of experts had released a draft of the recommendation in October, and the American Cancer Society recommended the same age change in 2018.

Rates of the third deadliest form of cancer in the U.S. have been steadily increasing among younger people. And, as of 2018, more than 30 percent of eligible adults were not up to date with screening.

Approximately 52,980 people in the country are projected to die from colon cancer this year. Last year actor Chadwick Boseman died of the disease at age 43.