A pattern in the cancer data has been concerning Ottawa's oncologists and public health specialists for several years, and this week it's landed squarely in the national conversation: colorectal cancer is being diagnosed in younger and younger Canadians, including people in their 30s and early 40s who don't currently qualify for routine screening.
Advocates, including patients who were diagnosed young and medical professionals who've watched the trend develop, are calling on provinces to lower the routine colorectal cancer screening age from 50 to 45. It's a change with potentially significant implications for Ottawa's 45-to-50 population.
The Numbers Behind the Push
Colorectal cancer is the second-deadliest cancer in Canada, and the data on younger diagnoses is not ambiguous: incidence rates in Canadians under 50 have been rising for years. The reasons aren't fully understood, diet, sedentary lifestyle, gut microbiome changes, and other factors are all implicated, but the trend is consistent enough that the U.S. has already moved its screening recommendation to 45.
Canada has been slower to follow, partly because provincial screening programs operate independently and face real resource constraints.
What Screening Looks Like
Routine colorectal cancer screening in Ontario primarily uses the fecal immunochemical test (FIT), a simple home test that checks for blood in the stool. It's non-invasive, inexpensive, and can be done without a clinic visit. If the FIT test returns a positive result, a colonoscopy follows.
For Ottawans currently in the 45-to-49 age range, the practical advice from healthcare providers is to talk to your family doctor about your individual risk, particularly if you have a family history of colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, or other risk factors.
The Advocacy Angle
Several Ottawa-area cancer patients diagnosed in their 40s are part of the advocacy push, sharing their stories to put a human face on the statistics. Their message is consistent: if I had been screened at 45, they would have caught this earlier.
Earlier is almost always better with cancer. This is one policy change that Ottawa's health community is watching closely.
Source: CBC Health
